Hetalia in Fantasia
by simplelovelyfanfictions
Summary: Our favorite nations meet the Fem! Nations by chance and they suddenly fall into the RPG world of Fantasia. In order to get out, they have to work together and beat the game. Easy, right? But there is someone who may change the nations and their world with the information he knows. And who says everyone makes it home alive? Reason for rating is before prologue part 1
1. Prologue Part 1: Before Fantasia

**Hey everyone! This is Sam again! I'm really sorry to my MMSFX readers (Brain farts suck :P), but I just had to post this! Plus, my busy schedule isn't helping either... Anyway! This is Hetalia in Fantasia! I hope you enjoy this story alot :D Here's a couple things for my new readers so that you don't get confused about anything and I don't get any troll or span reviews.**

**First, the way how the font changes is important for the progress of the story sometimes.**

**When the font is... bold- that means that whatever is being said is either extremely important or overly implied.**

** Ex: **"**They might be Nations!**"

**When the font is..._ italic_ - that means that someone is either thinking, implying something regularly, a conversation is happening in another language, or a word or phrase unique to a different culture is being used.**

** Ex: _"Grazie!" "Guh, why is Italy such a idiot..."_**

**Second, the story can get gruesome at some points. And I mean _very_ gruesome. Reader discretion is extremely advised. If there is a chapter where it gets very gruesome, I'll put a little warning up here so if you're that type of person who freaks out at gruesome things, you can gladly skip that chapter. However, important information might be discussed in that chapter (which I will put up as well in the warning if I had to).**

**Third... This is for you yaoi fan-girls out there. Yaoi/Yuri/ any sexual content will be kept to a minimum. However, it will implied if said situations occur. If my mom or friends discover that I write anime characters doing "the nasty" I would die from either embarrassment or my mom murdering me! XD And of course, for those who don't like sex stuff, I will put a warning up here when there is some in a chapter!**

**And fourth, pairings... Those damn pairings XD... Well from what I am sure of right now, what has been confirmed is Gerita, Sufin (Both regular and Nyotalia version), and AusHun. Many others will be Nation x Nyotalia! Nation. This is just a general overview so far. There might be more.**

**So anyway, here's a general disclaimer and stuff, like how I do for my other fanfic. Anyway enjoy! And PASTA!  
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**Hetalia and all of its affiliates belong to Hidekaz Himaruya, Gentosha Comics, and Kitayume. This fanfiction contains heavy cursing, violence, monster killing, drama, humor, craziness, psychological themes, romance, implied sex and yaoi, and pasta-loving Italians. Reader Discretion is advised. **

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><p>Before Fantasia Part 1<p>

"Veh~! I finally made it away from Germany!"

A young man was in a dark alleyway, catching his breath. He was soaked in sweat and couldn't even continue on. As he was briefly resting, he looked around nervously. Whatever he was searching for wasn't there. However, this fact didn't bring relief to the poor man's heart. He looked very frantic, as if he was in the water with a hungry shark and a cut on his finger.

"Italy! Where are you?"

"Italy-san! Where did you go?"

The young man gulped in fear. He looked even more frantic than earlier.

"Oh no... They are already on my tail! I better do what I do best- make a run for it!"

The young man ran further down the narrow alleyway to the other side. By the time the man was gone, two other men had arrived. One of them was a tall, well-muscled blonde with hair combed back and deadly blue eyes. The Asian man next to him was of average height with bowl-cut jet black hair and unemotional brown eyes. The two were looking in the alley, as if they were looking for something.

The blonde said, "Damn, we lost him..."

The shorter of the two said, "Don't worry about Italy-san, Germany-san. You know that he wouldn't risk being out in the open without you. And besides, he has done this several times already, right?"

"Yes, he has; and that's what makes me worry even more"

The two men left the alley. The young man they were looking for was already on the other side of the alley. The sun shone and it revealed what the man looked like. The man had auburn hair with a curl that outrageously stuck out of the rest and bright amber eyes. He seemed like the carefree type of man because he walked down the street aimlessly. On his walk, he noticed an ice cream shop. He became very happy and skipped over to the shop. The person at the counter was a young woman with curly brown hair wrapped up into a high ponytail with a curl of it sticking out and amber eyes. The two had an odd resemblance to each other. However, neither noticed and they continued on their merry way.

"One vanilla ice cream, _sirgnorina_!" The man asked, happily.

The woman at the stand went to the back and made an attempt at doing the simple task of making an ice cream cone. During her attempt, she tripped over something and fell down, bringing down the entire ice cream topping shelf with her.

"Ah- _Sirgnorina_! You- Are you okay?" The man asked, getting worried.

The woman replied, getting off of the floor, "I'm fine- Owwie!"

"Can- Can I help you clean up?"

"But my boss says I can't!"

"It's alright. It's for helping, so I think your boss will understand"

"But uh-"

The man gave off a genuine happy and gorgeous smile that made heat appear on the woman's face.

"Sure!" The woman said.

The man was putting the sprinkles and gum drop jars back onto the shelf while the woman mopped. After he put the sprinkles back up, he began to observe her. He seemed to notice the curl that stuck out of the girl's hair. He began to look at his own in his reflection from the metal shelves. They looked very similar. He became curious.

The man asked, "I have a question"

The woman replied, "What is it?"

"That curl... Where did you get it from?"

The woman stopped mopping so she could understand what this man was talking about. She poked the curl that the man was talking about and her face lit up.

"Oh, you mean this curl!"

"Yep!"

"I got it from my grandmother. Grandma Roma to be exact! I loved Grandma Roma! My older sister and I both got our curls from her. I got the left one and she got the right one"

She unloosened her shirt a little to pull out a Catholic cross necklace. She held it firmly between her fingers, as if a memory she was remembering was placed inside of it.

"I can remember that Grandma Roma and I used to paint together in the fields that she used to own. I can always remember her powerful spirit and her excellent skills at painting... But she's gone now, let her rest in peace"

"_Riposa pace_"

"Wait... You speak Italian?"

"Yep! In fact, I am Italian!"

The man pulled out a small white flag and waved it around quickly with his hand.

"Italia forever!" The man said.

The woman got happy again and said, "Italia forever!"

After the two finished cleaning up, a woman came running in.

"Margherita! Why is there a customer back here?"

"Uh-Anne! I thought you were composing music and counting money back there!"

"First off, I do not compose music back there. And second, that's no excuse for bringing a customer to an employee-only area! That is it, Margherita! You and I are going to have a talk!"

"Right now...?"

"YES!"

The two women went to the back of the shop to talk. However, it seemed more like the woman's boss was reprimanding her instead. The young man got tired of waiting so he left and waited outside on a bench. Ten minutes later, the woman from earlier came back, smiling sadly. The man got worried and asked about what happened.

"I'm fired"

"Wah? For just that! I'M- I'M A SO SORRY!"

"Wait! It wasn't your fault! I'm pretty clumsy and I've broken plenty of things! Plus, Ms. Anne scares me so I was hoping to quit anyway"

"Oh... But I still feel bad"

"Nah, it's alright. I'll find a job in no time. And besides, look what I got"

She pulled out two vanilla ice cream cones. The man got very happy at the sight of the whipped iced food. She quickly gave him his cone.

"_Grazie_!"

"_Prego_!"

The two began to eat their ice cream until the girl realized something.

She asked, "Hey, why were you asking about my curl anyway?"

"I thought it was kinda weird that we both have the same kind of curl sticking out at the exact location of our heads!"

"Really?"

The two looked down at a puddle and stared at their reflections. Their wild curls are in the exact locations and curl format that the man was talking about. The two looked like they could be twins, if they were together. The two turned towards each other and burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! We look so alike! Hahaha!" The man laughed.

"Yeah! Hahaha! We could be related or something!" The woman giggled out.

After they finished laughing, they finally introduced each other.

"I'm Feliciano!"

"I'm Margherita. Nice to meet you!"

"So, Margherita. I heard that you used to paint with your grandma, right?"

"Yes"

"Well, I used to paint with my Grandpa Rome!"

"Rome? What an odd name for a person!"

"... Yeah..."

"But I love to make pasta way more than paint nowadays!"

"D-D-D-Did you just say pasta?"

"Yes"

"I LOVE PASTA!"

The two said in unison, "PASSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAA~!"

The two then continued to laugh.

"I think we should meet up again. You are way too much like me! I have to tell Monika and Sakura about this!"

"I think I should tell Ludwig and Kiku about this too!"

The two exchanged numbers.

Margherita said, "Teehee! I can't to talk to you when I get home!"

Feliciano said, "Heehee! It was nice meeting you!"

"_Buona giornata_!"

"_Buona giornata_!"

The two departed.

Margherita thought the whole time as she was walking home about how cute Feliciano was and how alike they were. Feliciano was thinking about how cute Margherita was and pasta.

The blonde and Asian from earlier were talking on the other side of the street.

"Un'kay, Japan. I'll go search for Italy west and you'll go search east" The blonde said.

"I agree, Germany-san. We'll meet back up at the square. _Sayonara_ until then" The Asian said, bowing a little as he said goodbye.

"_Bis nachher_ Japan"

The two separated. The blonde began to walk around the side of the street that their missing friend could have walked down. He looked everywhere, even under benches in the tiny park nearby, for his friend. With no luck, he began to try to retrace his steps.

"Let's see here... Italy and I were training while Japan was designing new action-figures of those weird giant robots they have in his country. Italy ran off once again in the middle of training. Being quicker than me when he runs full-force, Italy quickly outran me. Then he was gone... Geez! Where did that pasta-loving bimbo go?"

The blonde began to stomp off until he bumped into someone. They both fell to the ground. The bags and headphones that the other person was carrying fell onto the ground.

"Shit! The stuff!" The other person said.

The other person was a tough and well-built young woman with blonde boyish hair and eyes that were as piercing as the blonde's. The two looked at each other until the male of the two realized what happened.

The blonde said, "Uh crap! I made you drop all of your bags. Please forgive me"

The other said, "It's alright- Oh good, the _kuchen_ wasn't destroyed!"

"_Kuchen_... You wouldn't happen to be from Germany?"

The woman responded, giving a slight smirk, "In fact I am! I have lived in Berlin my whole life. And I wish I could go back now!"

"That's…nice..."

The two began to put all of the stuff back into their bags.

The woman said, as she was putting her headphones back on her head, "I work as a military guard for the airport here in town. All of the people at the airport are very scared of me. I thought that I might as show my true girly side by showing off my secret hobby of baking"

The man said, "This feels like deja vu"

"Really? How come?"

"I love _kuchen_... It's my secret hobby to bake it... Please... Please don't tell anyone"

"Really? That's kind of... cool... weird and cool all at the same time!"

"I agree"

The two finally looked up at each other when all of the stuff was put away. The resemblance between the two was striking. They both had boyish blonde hair, gorgeous blue eyes, tall figures, and an aura of seriousness and overwhelming kindness. The two stared intently at each other, trying to figure out what else might they share and why they looked so alike. Was the other his or her doppelganger? That couldn't be because they were different genders. They just couldn't put their fingers on why they were alike. The girl of the two decided to speak after such a long period of silence.

"A-Anyway, the name's Monika"

"I'm Ludwig"

"We should... hang out sometime... You know... Baking kuchen and such"

"I think it would be an excellent idea. Here's my address. Come over with an apron and an good recipe"

"Uh- right! So... I'll see you tomorrow or somethin'... Here's my address and phone number. Dial 213 to get my apartment number"

"Uh- sure!"

Ludwig and Monika gave one last look at each other while they walked off. Ludwig was thinking about his missing friend, Monika, and kuchen. Monika was thinking about a friend of hers, Ludwig, and the kuchen she was hoping to make with Ludwig.

The Asian man was walking down the street looking for his missing friend. He walked around, using his ninja-like eyes to see if he saw any sign of his friend. On his walk, he stumbled upon a house. He thought that maybe whoever owned the house would know where his friend was. He knocked on the front door but no one answered. He decided to go around back to see if anyone was there. When he did, he discovered the home had a beautiful Japanese-style garden in it. He walked in, feeling like he was home. He saw the Zen garden that someone carefully racked into a pattern that resembled ripples of water.

"Wah- This is very impressive to see such craftsmanship in the West" he said to himself.

He continued to walk around until he discovered who seemed to be the owner of the home and garden. The person was a woman with silky jet black hair cut into a bob hairstyle and dark brown eyes. She wore a traditional pink and purple kimono with a Japanese cherry blossom hair clip in her hair and straw sandals. She had a watering bucket in her hand and was near a cherry blossom tree. She must've been gardening.

"Beautiful..." The man said.

The woman was startled and quickly turned around. She pulled out a tiny knife and held it in front of her to defend herself. Realizing the misconception, the Asian man quickly apologized for what happened.

"_Sumimasen_ for intruding onto your home"

"Ah- You're Japanese?"

"Why yes I am"

The girl in front of him slowly put the knife back into her kimono. She put down her watering bucket and walked over to where the man was. She invited him to her home, but with some precaution. She kept her hand on her chest (where she put her knife in) so if this stranger attacked, she would be prepared to kill.

"This is your home?"

"Yes. I have lived here for the last 3 months. However, I feel a little homesick"

"Homesick?"

"Yes. No matter how traditional I make my home, it'll never truly feel like my precious Kyoto"

"Ah, you lived in Kyoto?"

"Yes..."

"I visit Kyoto often. It's so beautiful and peaceful there... I would miss it too"

The two looked up at the cherry blossom trees. They watched the petals slowly fall to the ground below. The woman turned over to observe the man sitting next to her. She noticed how he shared the same eye color and hair color as her. Even their personalities and race were similar, according to what she knew so far about the man. She was a little shocked, but she kept her surprise hidden. Was this man a long lost twin of hers? It couldn't be. Maybe there was a raccoon dog around here that was messing around with her. After a while, the woman talked again.

"I... I'm sorry if I sound aggressive but why are you in my garden anyway?"

"I wanted to ask about a friend of mine"

"A friend of yours?"

"Yes. Have you seen a carefree Italian who has an obsession with pasta? I would imagine he would be hungry right about now"

"No I haven't. However, I heard someone with an Italian accent cursing at a man about yellow tomatoes"

"Ah, then that means that my friend's brother is in town"

"Oh... Sorry that I wasn't of any help"

"It's alright, miss"

"You seem like a nice man. How about you stay for some tea?"

"I'm sorry I can't. I must be on my way to find my friend"

"Oh... Well, can you at least come back again?"

"Why of course. Your home is very beautiful- I _want_ to come back again"

The woman blushed a little. The man noticed and he blushed a little too.

The woman said, "Oh please forgive me... I'm very shy"

The man said, "It's alright..."

"Oh wait, we have never introduced ourselves. Since we are in a Western country, I'll give you permission to call me my first name, Sakura"

"Then you may call me mine, Kiku"

"Okay, Kiku-san"

"I will see you then, Sakura-san"

"_Sayonara_, Kiku-san"

Kiku left with his hair swaying in the wind of cherry blossoms. Sakura was still staring at him as he left.

"He... Kiku-san is so handsome..." Sakura mumbled.

Realizing what she said, her face turned bright red and he went back to her gardening.

Feliciano was walking down the street, eating the ice cream Margherita gave him. As he skipped, he suddenly heard heavy breathing. He stopped all of a sudden and turned around abruptly. He began freaked out a little.

"W-What was that?" Feliciano panicked.

He became terrified and started to run off until he collided with some sort of wall. This wall happened to be the blonde from earlier. When the two realized what happened, Feliciano became scared and Ludwig grew furious.

"ITALY!"

"G-G-G-Germany!"

Ludwig was about to proceed to strangling the smaller of the two until Kiku came running back.

"J-J-J-Japan! Save me!"

Kiku somehow calmed both of them down. When the intensity was at its lowest, Kiku began to ask why did the Italian run away.

"Be... Because Germany is always so scary and I was hungry so..."

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE, ITALY!" Ludwig yelled.

Kiku said, "Germany- san, I think you should calm down. I was also worried, but I'm not screaming at Italy for what he did. Also, you are quite the slave driver"

"First off, I'm not a slave driver. And second, Italy and his troops are extremely weak! Even though World War II is over, Italy is still very naive. No one is willing to help him!"

"Are you still mad about when I left you all for the Allies?"

Kiku and Ludwig became extremely quiet. Feliciano looked very solemn when he said what he had to say.

"If- If it is about that, I'm really sorry! My boss told me that I had too! And I-I-I-"

"Italy, stop"

"I-I- I'm a so sorry-" Feliciano looked like he wanted to cry.

"Italy, stop it!"

Feliciano and Kiku looked a little surprised by Ludwig's outburst. Ludwig came over to where Feliciano was. He put his hand over the sad Italian's shoulder.

"Italy, World War II was a very long time ago. It's all in the past now"

"R-r-r- Really?"

"Yes"

"So… Does this mean we're still BFFs?"

"Um… Ya… We are still… BFFs…"

"YAY!"

The Italian hugged the German, and then went off to bounce around with the Japanese man. After he was done, he started to skip around. The two observed their friend with patience. Feliciano looked so happy and carefree that he caused the both of the men to smile.

"Italy-san is always so carefree and childish. I wish I could be like him"

"Even though he is naïve… I agree. I wish I could be carefree and skip around without a care in the world… But we can't, can we?"

"Never. We have the weight of an entire nation on our shoulders. We are to never stop working, no matter what-"

"Japan, I have a question"

Kiku looked a little surprised. The German looked at him with pure concentration.

"Have you ever wished you weren't a nation?"

Kiku was a little surprised by Ludwig's question. He knew that he has always thought about that.

The three, along with plenty of others, probably had the hardest jobs in the world. They were the personifications of their countries. The history of their country was their past. The people that roamed the land were their hearts. The military strength of their country was their strength. They fought alongside their people and felt the pain that their citizens felt. Depression and famine came to them as sickness. The remnants of war remained attached to them either as scars or painful and, most of the time, traumatizing memories. They could never become friends with other nations because of the ever-changing rivalries and alliances created. Some were forced to marry other nations in order to complete unifications and treaties and others were forced to fight their own family or people. Their fates were determined by the rulers of their countries. All of their long lives, they were puppets of another man's game. And they could nothing about it.

Kiku somehow found a way to answer such a tough question.

Kiku answered, quietly, "Yes… I have… I think every Nation has wanted to be human"

"Why… Do you have any idea why we were born this way?"

"I… I really don't know. Chance?"

"… And one more question. Is it weird to feel… alone?"

"Not at all, Germany-san. We, Nations, have the burden of being alone in this world. We can't marry who we love. We can't have a stable friendship with any other Nation. We can't bear children. Even our own families aren't our legitimate families. Most of us were _found_ by our so-called family. There is plenty of reason to be lonely. In fact, I am lonely myself"

Ludwig was surprised by the Japanese man's comment.

"I'm a very old man, Germany. And my Nation was an archipelago that was in isolation for centuries. I was extremely alone. I even shunned my own people away from me during this time. Without America and France's visit, I would probably still be alone, hiding away in my room"

"… I would have never known, Japan. Forgive me if I brought back some sad memories"

"It's alright, Germany-san. I am not very alone anymore since I accompany you and Italy-san in many of the trips and vacations we have"

Ludwig gave a small smile, showing his silent happiness about what Kiku said. He quickly put that smile away and returned his face to his common stern one.

"And I always enjoy your company. You really do help in babysitting Italy"

Kiku laughed, "Haha. I don't find it babysitting, Germany, but Italy can be sort of troublesome. Speaking of which…"

The two men began to look around for their Italian friend. He was nowhere in sight.

"Where did Italy-san go?"

Ludwig quickly became furious and yelled, "ITALY!"

"Doitsu! Doitsu! I'm sorry that I ran off again!" Feliciano said, running towards them.

Feliciano ran to where the other two men were standing. He looked very happy and began to jump up and down.

Feliciano said, happily, "I'm really sorry but I just remembered something that I wanted to tell you all!"

"Really? What is it?" Kiku asked.

"I met someone who is exactly like me!"

"…What?"

"Her name is Margherita! We have the same hair color, eye color, height- even our curls are the same!"

"Italy-san, are you pulling my leg?"

"Nope! She works- I mean worked at the ice cream shop down the street when I met her! She even loves pasta like I do!"

"Calm down, Italy" Ludwig said, "You guys are the same?"

"Yep, basically! The only thing that seems to be different is that she's a girl! And she had a Grandma Roma!"

"This… This is odd" Kiku said.

The two looked over at Kiku, curious of what he said.

"What do you mean, Kiku?"

"I mean… I met a Japanese woman who looked the same as I do. Black hair, brown eyes, pale skin. She even uses knives and swords like I do"

"Really? Well that's odd because I met a woman who looked like me too. She was butch like me. And she even likes kuchen- I mean she's smart like me"

"Well, that's… kinda cool, if you ask me!"

"Italy, this is not cool! These women look exactly like us! Do you get what I'm saying? **They might be Nations**!"

"NO WAY!" Feliciano said, between either excited or frightened.

"That may not be true. The woman I met said she moved from Kyoto three months ago to this city. Nations aren't allowed to move to different countries unless there's an alliance or unification under way"

"But… That can't be… This- All of this is too weird"

Ludwig touched his head in frustration. Feliciano became a little teary-eyed when he saw his comrade under such stress. Feliciano turned around and was suddenly back to his old self. He began to run away from the two happily.

"Margherita! There you are! I was just talking about you!"

Kiku and Ludwig suddenly looked up at who their little Italian was running towards. Margherita, Monika, and Sakura were walking towards Feliciano. Margherita looked a little surprised that she saw her little twin again. She immediately began to giggle and become happy.

"Oh, Feli, there you are! I was actually just talking about! Girls, this is Feliciano, the guy I was talking about just now" Margherita said.

Monika and Sakura looked dumbfounded as they observed Feliciano in curiosity. Even they noticed that their Italian and this Italian could be twins if no one knew better.

"This- This is crazy!" Monika said, "I can barely handle one Italian! Now there's another one!"

Sakura said, "I- I agree! This is too much for me to handle"

Monika looked over Feliciano's shoulder and noticed that Ludwig was behind him. Monika seemed to get a little happy.

Monika said, "Luckily, there's another German who can handle this new Italian!"

Sakura and Margherita were both equally confused by what their German friend meant. Monika called Ludwig over to where they were.

"Hey! Ludwig! Over here!" She called out.

Ludwig and Kiku looked at each other first. Kiku gave a soft nod and then the two walked over to where they were. The two obviously had their guards up because they looked prepared- hand near the handles of their customary weapons. When the two reluctantly arrived, Margherita started the conversation.

"Wow, you're big" She said, in awe and somewhat fear of Ludwig's muscular form, "You- You're even as scary as Monika too!"

"Y-you really do look like him" Ludwig said to Margherita "I'm debating whether to be happy or utterly depressed"

Sakura said, accidently "This is scary. We really did find our doppelgangers today. If this continues, I might get a stomachache"

"This is too odd…" Kiku said "I'll definitely be getting a stomachache today"

Sakura and Kiku looked at each other, mystified by how they both responded. Everyone else turned to the Japanese natives.

"Wow, you two sound so alike too!" Feliciano and Margherita said.

"Okay. Enough with the similiarities" Ludwig said, becoming very serious.

Feliciano immediately became sad. Margherita looked a little surprised about how fast her little friend became sad. Monika gave her a look that screamed for Margherita to be serious too. The female Italian sighed and pouted a little. When the Italians were handled, Monika spoke up.

She said, "I better be the one to ask. Who in the world are you people? You're giving off bad vibes to me!"

Monika put her hand to side, as if she was preparing to pull out a weapon. Ludwig quickly grabbed his gun and pointed it at her. Monika looked shocked and quickly put her hands in a ready-to-brawl position. To defend her friend, Sakura pulled out her knife out of her kimono and got in a defensive position. Kiku unsheathed his sword to assist Ludwig and pointed it right at his fellow Japanese native. The situation became very intense. Everyone had their weapons out, ready for something to get sliced up or shot. But what were our little Italians doing while this was happening: Panicking. Feliciano and Margherita held latched onto each other and panicked, yelling about how they were virgins and how they had cousins in Berlin and Tokyo. Besides the two Italians' panicking, all was silent and undeniably tense.

Suddenly, the German national anthem came out of nowhere and broke the silence. Ludwig quickly switched his gun for his cell phone. Soon, the Japanese national anthem was playing too. Kiku put his trusty sword back into its sheath and picked up his cell phone. And, as expected, the Italian national anthem started playing as well and the once fearful Feliciano became chipper again and took out his phone. A popular German clubbing song started to play too, accompanied by a pretty Japanese anime opening song. Monika and Sakura put down their weapons and took out their phones. However, Margherita's phone never went off so she was left to be confused about what was going on. They all look at the caller ID's and they all said the same thing- Unknown caller. The pair of Germans and Japanese was hesitant to pick up their phones. Feliciano, being oh so naïve, answered his phone, greeting the person on the other side of the line with a happy Ciao. Soon after, the Japanese picked up their phones and the Germans reluctantly answered theirs. They could all hear the same thing. Quietly, someone or something was breathing.

… _Tandem… Libertatis…_

Everyone was utterly confused. Seeing the confusion on their faces, Margherita wanted to be in the loop.

"W-What's going on?" Margherita asked.

"I… I don't even know, Margie" Monika said.

Sakura and Kiku asked, unknowingly in unison, "_Tandem Libertatis_? What does that even mean?"

"Freedom at last" Feliciano maturely said.

Everyone turned at hearing the male Italian's sudden knowledge.

"What? You didn't know that I knew Latin?" The Italian asked, leaning over in a way a little girl would when curious.

"No… Not at all" Margherita mumbled.

Ludwig asked, "Freedom at last... Wait! Who is this?"

_Nunc tempus ingredi fantasia…_

The mysterious caller hung up on everyone.

"Wait! Come back-"

Suddenly, the stone ground that were under their feet turned black. Like a cartoon character falling down a hole, all six of the people were suddenly plummeting to an unknown place. Feliciano and Margherita's screams were the only things heard before the ground turned back to its original dull color. Life went on as it was before. The birds chirped and the wind brushed the trees. It was as if the six people were never there. What happened to them?

* * *

><p><strong>Phew! First part of the prologue done. If you're wondering, the prologue will be split into three because it's so damn long. The next part will contain the prologue of America, England, Canada, and their lovely fem! versions! Fangirls, get ready for the cutest thing too next part :D<br>**

**Anyway! Thanks for reading! Please read and review! Tell me what you think so far! Anyway, thank you for now! PASTA AWAY!**

Here are some translations from the chapter if you were too lazy to Google Translate them (like how I did). Also, if you know these translations are wrong, tell me in a PM please. I want to learn new languages and Google Translate sucks.

**Riposa pace- Rest in peace [Italian]**

**Grazie - Thank you [Italian]**

**Prego - Your welcome [Italian]**

**Buona giornata - Have a nice day [Italian]**

**Bis nachher - See you later [German]**

**Sayonara - Goodbye [Japanese]**

**Sumimasen - I'm Sorry [Japanese]**

**Nunc tempus ingredi fantasia - Now it is time for fantasia to begin (I think) [Latin]**


	2. Prologue Part 2: Before Fantasia

**Hey everyone! How are you this lovely weekend? It snowed over where I lived so I was happy... Until my fucking law program forced me to stay in the building from 10 am to 7 pm over an assignment I didn't do. A FUCKING ASSIGNMENT. Hey, at least I got into a snowball fight with a couple of my friends during the break. :D  
>Anywho, it's a flash update! *le gasp* So here is part 2 of the prologue. I have already started writing the third part, which will feature our fav pedo, France, our fav creeper, Russia, and our fav Asian, China! Can't wait to finish it, you have no idea. I have also started writing out the first part of Chapter 1, so when I finish Prologue part 3, I'll do another miraculous flash update :D<strong>

**Anyway, ENJOY! And read the disclaimer!  
>Hetalia and all of its affiliates belong to Hidekaz Himaruya, Gentosha Comics, and Kitayume. This is purely fan made and no obligation for owning is intended.<br>There is no reader discretion in this chapter I believe :D So reader discretion isn't advised for now... I guess? *shrugs and goes away***

* * *

><p><span>Before Fantasia Part 2<span>

"Hmm… Which should I choose?"

A young man was looking at two stores. The man was quite handsome with brownish blonde hair with smolderingly bright blue eyes and silver glasses. The ahoge on his head seemed to droop as he was trying to decided something. The stores he was looking at were a popular fast-food chain that is infamous for its fatty foods and iconic clown mascot and a sandwich food chain that serves healthy alternatives to fast food. The poor man couldn't decide which one he wanted to go into.

"Well let's see. I love Mickey D's to the max but Iggy said I'm gonna get a heart attack if I eat it 24/7! But when did I ever listen to England anyway? And that commie said that if I ate anymore he would be able to take my vital regions with ease. And I like my vital regions! So I guess I'll go… into… Subway…"

The poor man was slowly and sadly reaching for the handle to the door to the sandwich shop before he heard yelling come from the fast food restaurant next door. The man quickly stopped his plans of going inside.

"Wow, what was that? Hmm… I _guess_ I can go inside to _investigate_ what is going on" The man said, snickering a little.

The blonde happily and sneakily went inside the restaurant next door. He was a little surprised when he saw what caused the racket outside. There was a woman hunched over the counter, yelling at a restaurant worker. She was pounding on the counter as she yelled.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO CHICKEN STRIPS?" She yelled, with pure anger and passion, "THIS IS A FREAKING MCDONALDS! HOW CAN A MCDONALDS _NOT _HAVE CHICKEN STRIPS?"

The worker fearfully and quietly responded, "W-w-well the truck never came-"

"NEVER CAME? I DON'T CARE! I WANT MY CHICKEN STRIPS, AND I WANT THEM NOW!"

The blonde looked with pure awe. He must have never seen a woman go so crazy over chicken strips in his life.

"_Wow, is she PMSing or is she like me when they run out of burgers?" _ He thought.

The blonde let out a well-deserved sigh.

"Well, it seems that I will need to be the hero once again!" He said.

The blonde walked over to where the raging woman was. He smoothly put his arm around the woman's shoulders and leaned a little, suggesting to the worker that they might be boyfriend and girlfriend. The woman instantly stopped raging and blushed shyly.

"How about_ I_ place your order, ma'am" The man said, giving the woman a wink.

woman was either confused or lost in the man's blue eyes. He pulled out a card and slid it slowly over to the worker. The worker looked at it and was puzzled.

"Umm sir… This is a gym membership card"

"For real? How in the world that get in there? It must have been Ig- I mean Artie"

The man quickly put the card back into his pocket. He then took out another card and slid it in the same fashion he did to the other. The worker picked it up and was baffled again.

"Sir, you do know that McDonalds doesn't have a membership plan"

"From where I live, sir, yes they do. Trust me, at the one I go to, they started a membership card plan _because_ of me"

"What?"

"Sir, I go here every-single-day. I know everything about McDonalds and all of its foods. I know what the Big Mac sauce is"

"Really? What is it?"

The man began to whisper into the worker's ear. The worker looked pleasantly surprised.

"Really? Who wouldva known that the sauce is just-"

The blonde covered the worker's mouth.

"The world shall never know what it is, my friend" The blonde said, "Anyway, I want a Big Mac, large fries, and a Coke. For the miss, Chicken strips, large fries, and a Coke as well"

"And don't forget the barbecue sauce!" The woman continued for the blonde.

The blonde smirked at that. The worker quickly placed the order and disappeared to the back. The two went to the side and began to converse.

"Wow, thanks dude! I wouldva lost it if you hadn't stepped in!" The woman said, becoming cheerful.

"No prob bob! I'm just doing what I do best- being a hero!" The blonde replied, beaming with happiness.

"Hero? Hahaha! You're so cute!" The girl said, giving a small kitty smile.

"You- You think I'm cute? Shucks, you're pretty hot yourself"

The woman started laughing loudly and proudly. It was undeniable that the woman in front of the blonde was pretty or beautiful depending on the man's forte. The woman had short wavy light brown hair with gold star barrettes on either side of her face and energy-screaming blue eyes. The blonde started laughing loudly too.

"By the way, miss, the name's Alfred!" The blonde said, smirking.

The girl smirked back, "The name' Emmie, partner!"

The two laughed together. The worker came back with the two's food. They went over and sat down together. The two quickly opened up their food and started to dig in. They both opened their ketchup packages and put them on the corner of the containers of the fries. In unison, they dipped their fries in and ate them quickly. After a little while, they noticed something.

Alfred said, with his mouth stuffed with a burger, "Mmm- Mmm dmmp ummr iieess mm mmd mmttmm?"

"Of course, partner! I thought it would prove to my older sister that I had some class"

The man quickly began surprised and swallowed the mush that was in him mouth.

"Wait! You understood what I just said?" Alfred asked, completely surprised.

Emmie responded, "Yeah! You asked if I dipped my fries in ketchup too. What, you do it… too…"

Emmie looked at Alfred's fries and saw that even he dipped his fries in ketchup. She cocked her head to the side, curious as to how this happened.

"Wow, now that is mighty weird!" She said, smirking a little.

"And it's gets weirder! I actually started doing the fry-dipping habit to show my older brother that I had some class too!"

"Wah? Get out!" Emmie said.

"And I have a question: Is that sis of yours British and a bit of an asshole?"

She gave a trouble look before she answered, "Yeah… She is… And she has a weird obsession with black magic!"

"Really? Mine has that too! He's always cursing people and scaring the shit out of me!"

"For reals? Mine too! And everyone says that her food tastes awful! But I think it tastes good!"

"Really? Me too! My brother's fish and chips are the best!"

Suddenly there was an awkward silence. These two had just met and they both seem to be extremely related. They both seemed to be busy bees that burst in energy and obnoxious laughs. They even have the same older siblings and habits. Did they find this strange? It seemed not because they were soon laughing obnoxiously. It was like that little talk they just had was a complete joke. After a good minute or two of laughing, they finished their food. When everything was thrown away, they had another conversation.

"Man, you're alright! Maybe we should chill out sometime. Like video games?" Emmie asked.

"Do I ever! And let me guess, you like scary movies?"

"Yep, even though I have hold onto Ms. Snuggums when I watch them!"

"...Mr. Snuggums?"

"Yep! He's the teddy bear that I had ever since I was little. The older sister I was talking about earlier, Alice, made him for me when we were in the orphanage"

"Orphanage? I.. I'm sorry" Alfred said, feeling a little guilty.

Emmie gave a fake punch in Alfred's shoulder. "Nah, it's alright! You don't have to apologize for something like that!"

Emmie gave Alfred a big smile that made her eyes give off a certain heavenly look. Alfred's face quickly turned red.

He asked nervously, "S-so, I see you have a Southern accent. Are you an American?"

"Sure am! And I love being one! I got the accent when I was studying in New Orleans. But currently, I live in the Big Apple"

"Big Apple… You don't mean New York City"

"Yep! I've lived everywhere, but I loved NYC the most so I decided to settle down there. Plus it's easier for my sisters to come visit. Speaking of which… Ah crap! I'm so gonna be murdered!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm supposed to meeting up with my sisters now! Crap! How could I forget?"

Emmie was suddenly off in a stampede out of the restaurant to an unknown destination. Alfred, wanting to find out just what the heck she was talking about, ran after her.

"Emmie! Wait up!" He said, before disappearing after her.

A man was walking around the city. He looked as if he had nothing to do, looking aimlessly around the city. As he walked, he saw his reflection in the window of a store. He stared at his punkish blonde hair and his emerald green eyes. He also noticed that he had untamed thick eyebrows, which quickly made him pout about. He continued walking around until he found a place to settle down- a café. He went inside and instantly smiled. Even though it was quite sunny outside, he seemed to enjoy the indoors and the quaintness of the café he entered. He walked up to the cashier, ready to order as if he came there every single day.

"Good afternoon, sir! How may I help you?" The cashier said.

"I'll have a rose tea and scones to stay" He said, in a thick British accent.

"Okay… That'll be four dollars and ninety-nine cents, sir"

He paid the worker and began his patient wait for his tea and scones to come. He leaned on the counter next to the cashier, looking around aimlessly. Suddenly, something caught his eye- a woman. She had long blonde hair in two pigtails, green eyes, and red glasses. She looked frustrated about something. She was drinking the drink she had with fury. The man became curious and approached the woman.

"Umm… Excuse me, miss" He said.

The woman turned her head away from the window she was looking out of to face the man in front of her.

"Is something troubling you?" He asked.

"What's it to you, git?" She asked, frustrated.

The man didn't waver from her rude comment. He said, calmly, "Well, I was just curious. You look like you're brewing up a storm over here"

The woman finally said, "Well, I am pretty upset right now… I'm sorry if I troubled you"

"No, no, it's alright. If you would like, I could listen. It always helps to talk it with someone"

"You're right…"

The cashier yelled for the man to get his food. The man told the woman to wait a second. He quickly ran and got his food. He ran back, careful of not spilling his tea all over the place. He said down in the seat across from the woman.

"Sorry, miss. Now if you may start" He said, sipping his tea.

The woman said, "I'm very angry right now. Well, to give you a little background, I have two younger sisters- Amelia and Madeline. I am meeting Madeline's boyfriend for the first time today. We were supposed to meet here at 12 but as you can see, no one has arrived"

The man quickly looked at his watch. The time read 2:23. He could only think that this had the full right to be upset. Her sisters were extremely late. She must have been waiting hours for them. He looked back up to hear the woman to continue her talk.

"You have no idea how frustrated I am at both of them. Amelia is always late for everything and she acts like it's all cool. And I am extremely disappointed at Megan! Megan is supposed to be the smarter of the two!"

"Well, miss… umm…"

"If you like, you may call me Alice"

"And you can call me Arthur. Anyway, Alice, I can understand how you feel. I have a younger brother named Alfred who is a lot like your sister Amelia. Guh, he's such a bloody fool! And… I think… I think I might have another brother too… However, I don't remember who he is right now, but I do know that he is the smarter of my two younger brothers"

"Hmm, that's odd. I usually forget about Madeline too. In fact, I didn't even know that she was dating until two days ago when she called me… And Amelia is quite the handful too…"

"Hmm… That's a little odd…"

The two looked towards the window, hoping to find Alice's sisters. Accidentally, they saw their reflections instead and noticed how they looked. They were both blondes with gorgeous jewel-like green eyes. They both had serious looks to their faces. Oddly, they looked like they could be related.

"We look alike!" Alice said.

Arthur said, "We really do…"

He stared into Alice's eyes with curiosity and awe. When Alice noticed this, her face turned red and she quickly turned around. Arthur quickly noticed this and quickly looked away. His face also turned red.

Arthur said, faking it as a cough, "Uh- I'm sorry, Alice. It's just that you're very beautiful"

Alice was completely shocked. She said, "Huh? Y- y-you think that I'm beautiful?"

"Yes"

"H-h-h-h-how can you say that like it's absolutely nothing, you git!"

Quietly, Arthur said, "Because I'm not lying…"

Alice couldn't hear what Arthur just said, so she was still mad. He decided to change the subject to keep the tense atmosphere that was forming from spreading.

Arthur said, "Anyway… I see you used 'git' back there. Are you British?"

"Yep, and I'm bloody proud of it! Long Live the Queen!"

"Who would you be happy if I told that I'm a proud Brit as well?"

"Really?"

"Yes. I've lived in London as long as I could remember. I like visiting the countryside, though. It's much calmer there than everywhere"

"I live in London also. What part?"

"Near the Palace of Westminister. Can't remember the street, but it's bloody busy over there"

"Really? I live right across the Thames from there!"

"Are you pulling my leg?"

"Nope!"

The two were suddenly very happy. It seems that the two were fortunate to be able to visit each other, if they wanted to talk more.

"Do you know exactly where, Alice? I would love to visit you sometime"

"Really?" Alice asked, getting a little nervous, "Well… I kind of… Sort of… Live in a black magic shop"

Alice winced her eyes closed, hoping to see a reaction from the Brit across the table from her. Arthur, in fact, looked pleasantly surprised, as if he hears this sort of thing all of the time.

"You… You aren't weirded out?" Alice asked, hoping to hear the answer she was expecting.

"Why of course not! In fact, I love black magic! I have a great assortment of spell books and grimoires in my home"

"R-really?" Alice asked, before she got out of her chair and touched Arthur's shoulders, "Finally! Someone like me!"

She quickly hugged Arthur with a pure kind of happiness that seemed to be rare from the girl. His face quickly turned red. He shyly hugged her back. When they let go, Alice seemed beaming with happiness. The two continued to talk about other random things as if they were a couple. From football to their favorite brands of tea- they discussed them all. The best part was that they both were happy about this. They seemed to like each other very much. After everyone finished up their snacks, they started to end their conversation.

"Hey, Arthur, would you like to… you know… go get a cup of tea or something one of these days. I won't be leaving National City until next week" Alice asked, stirring her drink with a spoon.

Arthur "Umm… Sure! Here's the address to the hotel I'm staying at and the number to the telly. Call me whenever!"

"And I'll be sure to bring my scones"

"And never bring the coffee!"

"Because tea is always much better!" The two said in unison, happily.

The two laughed. Arthur, being a gentleman, threw out everything for Alice. When he returned, she had her phone number written on a pink notecard for him. He quickly pulled out a piece of union jack stationary and wrote down his number and address. They exchanged cards and put them in their pockets. They laughed once again. Before Arthur was about to get up to leave, suddenly, a woman and man noisily ran inside, disrupting the peace in the café. The two ran over to the Brits were. The woman looked exhausted from running. When Alice got a good look at the woman, she became enraged.

"AMELIA JONES, WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU JUST ARRIVING?" Alice yelled.

"Ah crap… Sorry Ally! And hey, what did I tell you about calling me by my full name!" The girl said.

Arthur got a good look at the man and was suddenly enraged.

"ALFRED F. JONES! JUST WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING HERE? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE GYM?"

Alfred responded playfully, "What gym? You never told me about a gym?"

"Yes I did, you git! I even paid for a membership plan for you!"

"Ah ha! So you're the one who put the card in my wallet!"

"Don't spin this, you wanker! Now why are you here?"

"Because of Emmie!" Alfred said, pointing to the girl he came in with, "We were in Mc- I mean Subway when she said that she had forgotten something and jetted out of there. So I ran after her. And now we're here!"

Alice quickly figured out what happened and became even more enraged.

"Amelia, were you lying about your name again?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Ally! You know how much I hate it!"

"Amelia is a beautiful name!" Alice said, "It means you're a hard worker! And no matter how I can deny it, it's true!"

Alfred said, trying to put two and two together, "Your name is Amelia?"

Emmie looked away, looking like she wanted to just crawl in a hole.

"Yeah! So?" She said, turning slightly and back.

"Amelia is an awesome name! But if you like, I can call you Emmie!"

Emmie looked up at Alfred and then gave a small smile to him.

"Sure…"

Alfred began really happy. He was so excited that he grabbed Emmie and started spinning around with her, laughing obnoxiously. Emmie was surprised at first but then she started laughing too. Alice smiled while watching her sister have so much fun. Arthur hadn't noticed that he was smiling during the ordeal. When he finally did, he quickly became serious again.

"Well, anyway, Emmie, right? Where is your sister Madeline?" Arthur asked, faking a little cough, "Alice mentioned you two were supposed to meeting her here"

"Meggers? Hmm… Well… I don't really know" Emmie asked, scratching the back of her head.

Alice asked, "Don't you have her cell phone number?"

"Nope! Shouldn't _you_ have it?"

"Uh- Well, I don't! Besides, you should because she is basically your twin sister!"

"I never remember to get it! Sorry, Ally!"

"Guh! Emmie, sometimes I just want to… Whatever! I'm guilty of it too, so that's why you're off the hook of a reprimanding this time!"

"Well! I guess we should just wait!" Alfred said sitting down in a chair, kicking his feet up onto the table.

Arthur said, pushing his feet back to the floor, "Alfred, put your feet down! And also, we should just leave now. It's none of our business what they are talking about-"

Alice said, "Actually, you can stay if you like. I'm sure Madeline and her boyfriend wouldn't mind either"

"See! We can stay. So sit down already!"

Arthur huffed and sat down in the chair next to Alice while Emmie sat to Alfred on the other side of the table. The four began to talk together.

Two young people were giggling together, one arm linked together. The man of the two had honey blonde curly hair and lavender eyes behind silver glasses. The woman had long curly barley hair with light sapphire eyes with contrasting red glasses. Both were holding white bears in their free arm. They walked slowly as they made each other laugh and smile.

"Oh, Mattie! I can't believe you have such ridiculous cooking stories!" The woman of the two said.

"Yeah, me and Kumajin aren't always the best cooks!" The man said, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, so Kuma-chan cooks with you?"

"Well, not exactly, since he is a polar bear. He is, however, a very good helper, right Kumajirou!"

The two looked at the bear in the man's arm. The bear suddenly moved and looked up at the man.

The bear asked, innocently, "Who are you?"

"Matthew Williams! Your owner!"

The bear in the woman's arm also asked the same question the other asked.

"Megan Williams! Your owner!" The girl said.

Both bears said a simple Oh to their answers. The two went on their merry way. They walked for another twenty minutes until they ended up at a park. The park was lined with plenty of trees, bringing helpful shade to the passerbys on their walk through the park. Megan, getting curious as to where they were going, asked where Matthew was dragging her.

"You'll find out" He simply added.

They let go of their arms for a moment. Matthew, with his newly freed hand, grabbed Megan's free hand and playfully guided her to where they were going. For the next couple of minutes, they walked silently through the park. As Matthew guided, Megan began to look around the park. She saw how beautiful it was. The little animals in the trees played together and the birds flew majestically. The tiny flowers in the grass shyly popped out. It was just beautiful there. And out of everything, Megan wished she could just stay there with Matthew and both of their odd choices of pets. Suddenly Megan stopped walking, having Matthew come to a pause as well. Megan looked at her watch and nearly screamed at what she saw.

Matthew asked, "What's wrong, Megan?"

"I-It's 2:30! We are so late! Alice is going to kill both of us! Maybe we can do this another-"

"No, today's the day we do this. Alice and Emmie can wait, can't they? Besides, they don't notice either of us, right? So I think today might be the day for some payback"

"Y-You… You're right. Continue, Mattie"

Matthew gave a soft smile to Megan and continued leading her. They kept on walking for five more minutes until they saw a bright light at the end of the tree-shaded path they were on. Matthew let go of her as he saw the magnificent light ahead. The two suddenly started running towards the light. When they reached it, they were suddenly engulfed by the warm sun's light. They were slightly blinded by the sun's rays. When their eyes recovered from the burn, they were amazed at what they saw. Flowers- tons and tons of beautiful flowers surrounded the duo. And the sunlight and perfect blue sky added the final touch to this paradise-like place. Megan slowly put her little animal friend on the grass they were standing in, never taking her eyes off the field. Matthew looked like he calmed down already, so he quickly but gently put his polar bear down to the ground. The two bears quickly scampered off into the field to play.

Megan said, still overcome by the beauty of the field, "T- This… is so beautiful… W-Where did you find this place?"

"A year ago when I came to visit you, Kumachin ran off into the park. I chased after him and I ended up here. I knew that when the time was right, I had to show this to you"

Megan was still looking at the flowers, amazed about how Mother Nature decorated this field. Matthew simply smiled as he noticed how amazed she was.

He said, "We should go in, eh?" He offered his hand to Megan.

She aimlessly took his hand and Matthew was off leading again. The two walked through a little more of the field and they ended up right in the center. Megan looked around and noticed that they were standing right in a patch of lilies. She giggled when she realized why Matthew led her here.

"Mattie! You remembered my favorite flowers!" She said, delighted bu the sight.

Matthew responded, scratching the back of his head, "Ah shucks, it was nothing. Anyway, I have something important to talk to you about"

Megan tilted her head to the side. She was a little curious as to why whatever Matthew wanted to discuss had to be in a flower field. She wasn't complaining, though, as the sight of the flowers truly made her day. The duo sat down in the field. Matthew looked up at the sky, trying to find something to say.

"Megan, do you remember when we first met?"

"Of course I do! I was your waiter at a pancake house I worked at when I was in college. When you finished your food, you slipped me your number and gave me a wink like you were some kind of savvy gentleman. But, who woulda known that you were so shy and cute!"

She poked one of Matthew's cheeks playfully and he giggled at the touch.

Matthew continued, "Well, ever since then, I began to really enjoy our time together. We are extremely alike; it's crazy. We both love pancakes with maple syrup. And by the way, your pancakes are like bursts of happiness in my mouth"

When Matthew said that, Megan's hands slowly came up to her cheeks as she was hiding the slight smile on her lips and blush on her cheeks.

"We have pet polar bears! And Kumarie can even talk like Kumajirou! And she also forgots your name! You even yell with me when our team loses hockey games! We are invisible too, even though I don't find that a positive trait. A-And I… I have to say Megan, you're just amazing"

Kumajirou and Kumarie were chasing each other in circles as their masters talked, like how regular playful animals do. After a little while they slowed down and stopped the chasing. They then snuggled up together for the beginning of a nap.

"You're so kind and sweet! You have always wanted to help me and never wanted to be a burden on me, no matter what happened. And you are really good at singing! I mean, it's like an angel descended from heaven every time to sung… or even spoke…"

Matthew grabbed Megan's hands from her cheeks, enlacing them with his. He looked deep into the core of her eyes, trying to find the courage to say what he has always wanted to say.

"Megan! Y-y-y-you're!... My angel… What I'm trying to say is that, Megan, you're my angel! You've shown me a whole new light in my life! Without you, I still would be depressed and lonely. You make me feel all bubbly and warm inside when I even hear you call me my nickname. And I had always hated it until you started to say it. And now I love 'Mattie'. There's no other way to say this! Megan Williams, I love you! And… I want you to spend the rest of your life with me"

Matthew let go of Megan's hands as he dug in his hoodie pocket to find something. Megan quickly covered her mouth again, as tears began to well up into her eyes. Matthew found what he was looking for and got down on one knee.

"Megan Williams, will you marry me?"

He opened up the tiny box in his hand to reveal a simple but none the less beautiful diamond ring. Megan quickly tackled him to the ground, whispering soft yes's on the way down. As they laid there, Megan's sniffling and tears in the background, Matthew laughed. He quickly embraced her, the only thought running through his mind- she said yes. The two were now going to get married, and start a family, and grow old together, and everything. Of course he was happy. Megan started to giggle too. Matthew started to roll in the flower field with Megan still attached to him. The two laughed thunderously until they stopped rolling. When they did, they got the chance to look deep at each other. The two leaned in and their slightly plumpish lips connected into a soft but passionate kiss. It was going to be a long time before they were to get married. And they had plenty of planning to do.

The two pulled their faces away, giggling a little afterwards. The two polar bears suddenly ran toward their owners. They looked like they were ready to bite someone's face open as they ran in defensive positions to protect their beloved masters from… what? Matthew and Megan looked at both their dear friends, curious and worried as to why they were getting so hyped up for.

"Kumajirou, what's wrong?" Matthew asked.

"Kumarie, are you okay?" Megan asked.

The bears were still growling, bearing their fangs. What could be scaring their pets so much? Suddenly the Canadian national anthem and a Canadian pop song parody started to play. They quickly dug into the pockets to take out their cell phones. They checked the caller ids- unknown. They reluctantly answered.

…_Tandem… Libertatis…_

"Huh, w-w-who is this?" Matthew asked.

_Nunc tempus ingredi fantasia…_

Megan asked, "Uh, wait, what are you saying? I don't speak your-"

Suddenly, the soft soil and flowers they were sitting on disappeared into a pitch black hole. And they were sent plummeting down it. Both were screaming as they fell down. The hole closed in on them, cutting off their screams. The wind blew where the two were laying down in before and a butterfly landed on the ring box that was left behind. It was like as if they were never there. Well, they're pretty invisible anyway, so no one would know that they were gone… Right?

The Americans and Brits were still in the café waiting for their guests to arrive. It was already 3 o'clock, and still no sign of them. Alfred and Emmie were fidgeting in their seats like a child would when he or she was bored. Arthur and Alice looked as if a stick was up their butts, irritated by this whole entire situation. Where were they was all that everyone could think. Finally Alfred stood up from his seat.

"I think they aren't coming, guys" Alfred said, looking a little sad.

Emmie stood up too, saying "Yeah, Alfie's right. But I'm a little worried"

Alice stood too, "I am too. It's been three hours. They would have called or something. I hope they aren't hurt or anything…"

Arthur also joined in on the standing "Don't say things like that, Alice. I'm sure there in tip-top shape and they should be calling any second-"

Arthur was interrupted by the sound of the British national anthem playing from his pocket.

"Well, dang,dude! You really predicted that!" Alfred said, in awe of how Arthur was right on cue.

"Shut it, you git! Also, its… Unknown"

The American national anthem started playing and Alfred dug to get his phone. When he reached his, a very popular American party song and a soft British melody were playing. Emmie and Alice reached to get their phones. They both looked and were baffled. Everyone had the same caller id- Unknown. Just who was calling all four of them at the same time? Everyone decided to just pick up their phones.

…_Tandem… Libertatis…_

"Huh? What the bloody hell is this?" Arthur and Alice said in unison.

_Nunc tempus ingredi fantasia…_

"Uh- wait! Who the hell is this-"

The floor that everyone was sitting on dissolved into a black hole. The four were suddenly falling down the hole under them. Arthur and Alice were screaming while Alfred and Emmie were yelling as if they were on an exciting roller coaster. As Arthur yelled that this was going to be a bumpy ride, the hole closed in on them. Everything remained the same in the café they were in. It was as if no one was there earlier. One of the workers came by to check on them, but her guests were gone. She didn't twice about them leaving so she went back to work.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I really had a fun time with Emmie and Megan's characters! If you are confused, Emmie and Megan don't like to use their real names, Amelia and Madeline. The only people who refer to the two as their real names in Alice (UK) and Marianne (France, who you haven't seen yet). Hope that stops your confusion for now :D<br>Anyway, R and R please XD See you around in my next update **


	3. Prologue Part 3: Before Fantasia

**Hiya everyone! How have you been? Finally! The final part of the prologue is here! This will be the introduction to France, Russia, and China! I kind of noticed that I made the girls in this chapter connected in some way like how the others were. They are all dancers for some reason ._. Anyway. I realized that placing translation at the bottom of a chapter could accidentally lead you to running over some spoilers. So I'll be posting them up here for now! ^^ Seems like a good idea. Let's see how this works out, eh?**

**Here are some translations!**

**mademoiselle/monsieur (french)- miss or madam/mister**

**merci (French)- thank you**

**oui (French) - yes**

**beaute (French) - beauty**

**mon dieu (French) - my god**

**sacrebleu (French) - it really doesn't have much of a definition. From what I've found, t's just basically a curse word with no clear definition o_o Let's just say it means "Blue shit" or something dazzling for no**

**Journal - basically this is what newspaper literally means in French. No joke. Welp, I learned something new thanks to **

**Het (Russian) - no**

**ребенок (Russian) - child**

**Da (Russian) - yes**

**If these translations are ever wrong, and you are a native speaker of any of these languages, please please PLEASE tell me! I would seriously love to know!**

**Now enjoy and read the disclaimer! Thank you again for your continued reading.**

**Hetalia and all of its affiliates belong to Hidekaz Himaruya, Gentosha Comics, and Kitayume. This is purely fan made and no obligation for owning is intended.  
><strong>The only discretion is drinking, talking about <strong>decapitated** heads over vodka, and just all of the Aiyaaaa's.****

* * *

><p><span>Before Fantasia- Part 3<span>

"Girls, get ready to dance!"

A man was walking aimlessly until he heard someone yell that. The man was a handsome blonde whose hair was just that right amount of curl and wave and cerulean eyes. He scratched the soft stubble on his chin when he heard the yell. He tilted his head to the side in curiosity. Who yelled? Well, he certainly wanted to find out, so he went down an alleyway to where he heard the direction of the voice. As he stepped on a piece of garbage, he quickly winced at the sight.

**"**Ugh, my beautiful shoes are going to be ruined! But oh well, I am so curious as to who made that yell-" He said, laced in a French accent.

Suddenly, piano music started to play. He turned to his left to see the music was coming from a window. He sneakily hid under the windowsill to keep out of sight. Slowly, he looked up to try to see what was going on. From what he could see was the back of a tall woman and small children holding onto a bar of sorts. The little girls were wearing pink tutus and pale pink slippers. The woman was dressed in a black leotard with white tights. He instantly figured out that a ballet class was going on here. The woman was the teacher and the little ones were her students. Every two sets of counting to eight, the woman would tell the girls to shift positions. However, the girls couldn't keep up. They were fidgeting and starting to lose focus.

At that point, the woman stopped the piano music. The man ducked down quickly to avoid being caught. When he thought he was in the clear, he looked back up to see the woman was lecturing the girls.

**"**Girls, ballet isn't something to take lightly. It is an art- a passion expressed through delicate steps and fluid movements. One who doesn't feel the passion will never be a ballerina. Also, the recital is coming up when, ladies?" She said, with the hint of a French accent.

**"**In two weeks, Ms. Bonnefoy" The girls groaned.

**"**Yes, two weeks, girls; _Two _weeks. And in two weeks, you have to be perfect. And none of you are even close to that! I'll have to show you the routine myself"

She ran over to the music player and finally faced the window when she was in position. Soft waltz music started to play. She started to dance in twine with the music. She was like a swan- delicate and graceful. The careful steps and the slow spins she made were just on cue and full of beauty. Plus the performer was beautiful herself. The teacher had eyes the color of amethysts and soft brown hair that came out of her bun to form a messy but poised hairstyle. The man didn't even care to hide anymore. He stood straight up and stared at the teacher with loving eyes.

**"**Oh, mademoiselle… You are so beautiful. Your eyes have lit a fire in my heart that no other has! And you're so graceful and flexible too. Oh, I must find a way to talk to you…" The man said, dreamily lost in the woman's frame.

The woman made a final set of spins and ended in a swan-like pose. The whole class roared with applause. She quickly wiped a little bit of sweat off her forehead and blew a pesky piece of hair back in place. She gave a big smile and continued on what she was saying before.

**"**See girls, if you do something like that, you will get the same amount of applause you gave me"

The whole class gave off anime-style sweat drops from the sides of their heads, mumbling that what their teacher just wasn't anywhere near the routine she made for them. Suddenly, one of the students started to tremble. The teacher noticed and stepped over to her.

**"**Paige, what are you trembling about? There is nothing to fear yet, my girl"

**"**P-p-p-p-pervert…" She mumbled.

The teacher was confused at what the girl before her said. This Paige pointed at the window, directing everyone's attention to it.

**"**Pervert! Ms. Bonnefoy, there's a pervert watching us!"

The man in question was still in a dream-like state until he heard all of the girls on the other side screaming. He snapped out of it and came back to the real world. Suddenly, the woman was running towards the window in a fury. The man quickly screamed and attempted to run away before the woman opened the window wide.

She yelled from it, "Excuse me, sir, what are you doing here?"

He stopped running right then and there and turned around. He walked back to the window, preparing for the worst.

**"**Forgive me, mademoiselle. I did not mean to scare your students. I was humbly passing by when I heard _beautiful _music playing. So I came by and was instantly caught in your lovely eyes. I just couldn't get enough of the beautiful amethysts that shine so beautifully in the light. And they gleam with passion when you danced, which I congratulate on how graceful and fluid it was"

**"**Monsieur, are you crazy?" The woman asked, in a playful manner.

**"**A little. Every man gets crazy when they fall in love at first sight"

The woman laughed playfully.

**"**_Well, _are you just going to stand there like a peeping tom or are you going to come inside?"

**"**Merci, milady!"

The man quickly climbed into the ballet studio through the window he was staring into earlier. As he entered the studio the illegal way, the little girls stared at him intently. They looked up at the man, fearful of what he was going to do to them. The students should be more worried about what the man was going to do to their teacher. The man gave the woman lovesick stares, as if he wanted to be with her for the rest of his existence. Or mostly in her bed, but let's not get into that. The teacher began to speak again.

**"**Well, we have a guest today, even though he just came through the window. However, ladies, you know what the rule is here in the Paris Studios"

**"**All people that step into the building must show their talent" The girls responded, as if they were robots.

**"**What?"**  
><strong>

**"**Yes, what my girls are saying is that if you're going to stay in my dance studio, you must prove yourself to me if you're a dancer"**  
><strong>

**"**Seriously, that's it?"**  
><strong>

The man bowed before the woman in front of him, twirling his hand in a fancy fashion in front of him. The woman was a little surprised by how fast he answered her request.**  
><strong>

**"**Well, that was fast"**  
><strong>

**"**Indeed. Now mademoiselle, shall I have this dance?"**  
><strong>

**"**Of course. By the way, my name is Marianne. I am the owner of this studio"**  
><strong>

**"**I am Francis, the man who, I hope, steals your heart tonight"**  
><strong>

Marianne rolled her eyes playfully and giggled as she ran over to the music player in the back. When she returned, Francis took Marianne into his arms. She put one hand delicately on Francis's shoulder and he put his hand lovingly around her waist. The two entwined their free hands together, staring deep into each other's eyes. A soft orchestral melody began to play. Francis moved his leg back and Marianne moved her leg forward. The two began to move with the music, walking slowly. After a few graceful steps, Francis let out his arm and Marianne twirled right under it as if she was one with the soft breeze she made with it.**  
><strong>

As the two began to do more spins and turns, the students' eyes filled with shiny sparks. They were all awing at the lovely duo that was dancing. Their beloved dance teacher and this random stranger looked like they were destined for each other. Their steps were in perfect sync and their turns will like ones that a passionate couple did. The way how they looked at each other as they danced were like star-struck lovers. They were... Nothing but perfection on legs.**  
><strong>

**"**Amazing..." One of the girls whispered.**  
><strong>

Soon the song began to reach its end. Francis span Marianne repeatedly around until the song ended. With a few more notes of the piano, Francis pulled her into his arms and leaned over slightly, having Marianne suspended in a little pose. There was some silence until the Paige from earlier made a quiet clap. Soon another joined in and another. In seconds, the class was in thunderous applause. The teacher and the stranger looked at each other then bowed for the students. When the clapping was over, Marianne spoke.**  
><strong>

**"**Okay, so it seems monsieur Francis will be staying with us for a little while!" She said, laughing a little.**  
><strong>

**"**Really? Merci, milady!"

Soon, he sat down in a chair in the far right of the room. Marianne went back to teaching her class. After another hour, class was dismissed. The girls ran to to their parents or friends that were waiting for them in the entrance. When all was gone except for that Paige and another girl, the teacher and Francis began to talk again.**  
><strong>

**"**Francis, you're such an excellent dancer! Are you a professional?" She asked, in awe of his skills.**  
><strong>

Francis smirked and said, "Oh no, mademoiselle! I can't dance for my life! However, when a man falls in love, anything is impossible!"**  
><strong>

Marianne giggled at that. She put her hands on her hips in a playful manner.

"You've been saying that ever since you got here! You're so crazy!"

The two began to laugh together. Paige turned her head and walked towards the two.

**"**Ms. Bonnefoy..." She asked.**  
><strong>

Marianne looked down and asked, "What is it, my child?"

"I have a question"

"Well go ahead and say it!"

"Are you and Mr. Francis related?"

"Huh?"

"You two look really alike! I hear that siblings have a lot of the same traits, no matter how much they deny them! Maybe you guys have dancing roots or something!"

Francis and Marianne were very surprised by what Paige said. They both turned and looked at the mirror wall in front of them. They both were lean and tall with ivory skin that's for sure. They tilted their heads to the side when they noticed that. They started to walk again when they noticed that they even had the same footing, scaring the other when they noticed. They continued to walk forward to get a little look at their faces. Their hair colors were no near the same as Francis was a blonde and Marianne a brunette. However, their hair textures were the same- a sexy curl and wave duo. They look at their eyes and they both shared the jewel like amethysts for a eye color.

They were utterly dumbfounded. That little girl was right!

They turned to each other with the funny faces they made from their surprise. Suddenly, they both screamed.

**"**MON DIEU! YOU LOOK LIKE ME!" The both screamed at each other.**  
><strong>

After a second more of screaming, the two calmed down, breathing hard. Francis flipped the hair that misplaced out of the way and smirked.**  
><strong>

Francis said, "Well, at least you are as sexy as me!"

"Thank you!" Marianne said, flipping her hair fabulously out of her face.**  
><strong>

In that instant, everything was back to normal. The two remaining students were a little dumbfounded before they let out a small sigh.**  
><strong>

**"**She's always like this" One of the girls said.**  
><strong>

Paige responded, "Yep... Always will..."

The two shrugged until a door opened behind them. The girls ran over to the person who opened the door. The person left as he came, whisking away the other girls with him. That left Marianne and Francis to be left alone in the studio. Francis decided to speak up, since a odd silence entered the air.**  
><strong>

**"**So... I remember you telling me you own this studio" He said, trying to make conversation.**  
><strong>

**"**Oui! Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a ballerina. When I went to London for my schooling years, I met this Russian girl named Anya Braginsky. She was everything I wasn't when it came to dancing. She was only eleven when I first met her and she was better than many professionals! I wanted her feet, I swear! Soon, we became acquaintances. When high school came, we both began to dream of opening a dance studio together. However, after a few 'uneventful' events, our dreams went caploowie" Marianne said, waving her hands around signaling something like an explosion happened.**  
><strong>

**"**I still continued on with this dream of ours, however. I worked my ass off to get the studio open! After ten years of hard work, here I am today! 28 and owner of the Paris Studios!"

Marianne stood in a proud pose as Francis continued to look on. She continued on in a dream-like state, dancing around as she ran over to other sides of the room.**  
><strong>She ran to grab a newspaper. She plopped it into Francis' lap.

"I even have good ratings from the journal! And you wouldn't believe how many cockroaches were in this place! I even found a dead bird in the wall!"

Francis cringed at the hearing of cockroaches and dead animals. It was too much for his "beautiful" self to handle.**  
><strong>

**"**But after all the pests were gone, students started to come in! The last three years I have led ballet students in the art. In one week, we will be having our first recital! And I _absolutely _cannot wait"**  
><strong>

Marianne touched her heart tenderly, as if she felt her dreams were coming true once again. Francis, however, didn't notice. He closed his eyes thinking of something. She went over to the thinking man.**  
><strong>

**"**Hey! I invited you in here! You can at least-"

"That girl, Anya... Anya Braginsky, correct?"**  
><strong>

**"**Oui, what about her?"

"She... Her name sounds kind of familiar. I think she has the last name as one of my... comrades"

A shiver went down Francis's spine, causing him to have a small muscle spasm in fear. Marianne noticed and took note of it.**  
><strong>

**"**Let me guess, you don't like this comrade of yours?"

"It's not that I don't like him! It's... It's just that he's... scary!"

* * *

><p>A man was brisking walking through the street. He was enormous in height, staggering over almost all of the people he passed by. The muscles he had slightly affected the clothes he wore. The man had unnatural white hair that highlighted into a nice shade of silver in the sunlight. His sweet-looking eyes were a nice jewel purple color. He breathed a little through his bird beak nose as he continued to walk. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around and saw that he passed by something interesting. He stepped back a little and saw what caught his eye- a club.<p>

He thought to himself, in a Russian accent, "_Oh good! I found a club for me to get drunk in! Another victory for Russia!_**"  
><strong>

He got on the line to the club. As the line got shorter and shorter, the more irritated he got.**  
><strong>

_I have to wait an hour for a bottle of vodka? This city is crazy._**  
><strong>

When he made it to the front of the line, a bouncer stood there in front of him.**  
><strong>

**"**ID, sir" The man dully asked.**  
><strong>

The Russian man said, giving a fake smile, "My height is enough to presume my age, da?"

"ID, sir" The bouncer said.

"Excuse me?" The Russian's eye twitched a little.

"Did I stutter? Because I believe I didn't" The bouncer continued, "No ID, No clubbing here"**  
><strong>

The bouncer was getting more ticked off, as was the Russian. He finally took out a card from the back of his pants and handed it over to the guard. The bouncer looked at the card and back at the tall man confused.**  
><strong>

**"**Sir, are you trying to make a fool out of me?" The bouncer said, reaching his limit.**  
><strong>

**"**What are you talking about?" The Russian asked, faking pure confusion.**  
><strong>

**"**The man on this card and you are completely different"

The bouncer turned the card to the man to see it. The card looked like a regular driver's license, but all of the letters were in Cyrillic. If a person knew what it meant, it said the card owner's name is Ivan Braginsky and he was 29. The man in the picture had the same color hair and eyes as the Russian. However, the two looked just a bit different. No one could put their finger on it. When the Russian figured it out, his face lit up.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh! It's my scarf!" He said.**  
><strong>

He tugged down the white long scarf that cradled his neck a little to reveal a little bit of his neck. The bouncer turned the card around again and saw that the picture and the man were similar. He sighed and gave back the card to its rightful owner, who put it back into his pants pocket.

"Okay, Mr... I don't know what the fuck this says. You can go in. However, if I see your ass again, trust me, you'll get the pain of a lifetime"

Ivan began to slowly go past him until he stopped dead in his tracks. He turned again to the bouncer. His face melted from the fake smile he had to a much more... sadistic look. It looked like he was a complete other person. One who had no empathy or pity for anyone or anything. His once amethyst eyes were slowly revealing a glint of red in them.**  
><strong>

**"**Touch me, and you'll meet my pipe" He said, wincing his eyes evilly at the man.**  
><strong>

The bouncer's facade of pride went down the drain as he became scared from the Russian's glare. After a few more seconds of anger, the man gave up and went into the club.**  
><strong>

The dark club was booming with loud music and chatter. The beat of the music lightly vibrated the floor. The strobe lights flashed across the walls, making them all kinds of reds, greens, yellows, and whites. He couldn't tell, or personally care for, the color of the floor he strode across. When Ivan came in, he skipped the crowds and went straight to the bar. As he pushed through a crowd of hormone-raging girls, he made it to the bar. He sat right down into his seat and ordered a bottle of Grey Goose.**  
><strong>

**"**A... bottle, sir?" The bartender asked, confused at the man's order.**  
><strong>

**"**Da!" Ivan said.**  
><strong>

The bartender shrugged and got the bottle and a glass to drink from.**  
><strong>

**"**On the rocks, sir?"

Ivan shook his head side to side, "нет, the ice would dilute the vodka"

The bartender, confused at what the Russian meant, didn't add ice to the glass. She put the bottle and glass in front of him. She opened it and poured a glass full of the clear alcoholic substance. He thanked her and immediately drank it down. He twitched a little as the burning taste of spice ran down his throat. After another cup, he got used to it. After a couple more swigs of the water-like drink, the bartender began to look up and down the bar, looking at Ivan then another person on the other end. She made a grimace as she tried to figure out what she was thinking. Ivan, just in time, ordered another bottle of Grey Goose. Finding the opportunity to ask, she went over to Ivan.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh yeah, I have a question, sir?" The bartender asked, as she was putting the new bottle on the table.**  
><strong>

Ivan looked up again and asked, "What is it?"

"Are you and the lady at the end of the bar related? She also ordered a whole bottle of Grey Goose. And you guys kinda look alike"

Ivan turned his head to the end of the bar to see the woman the bartender was talking about. The woman was alone, sipping her vodka. She looked to be in her 20's, but he couldn't tell whether if she was in the early years or late. Her long light blonde hair pooled over her back. The probe lights from the dance floor danced on her lavender eyes, making them an assortment of colors. The two, from what Ivan can see so far, do look a little alike. They share the same range of hair color and eyes.**  
><strong>Ivan shrugged and decided to make conversation with this girl. He slowly got up, careful of his vodka and glass. He carefully approached her, trying to not to make her think weird things. He successfully sat next to her. The woman turned her eyes a little but she didn't seem to personally care that Ivan was there. For a couple of minutes, the two didn't speak.**  
><strong>

_Hmm... How to start a conversation... Guh! I hate it when I have to do this!_**  
><strong>

**"**Umm... Are you a fan of Grey Goose?" Ivan asked.**  
><strong>

The woman finally turned her attention to the Russian. She put down her glass down on the table and began to speak.**  
><strong>

She said, in a very feminine voice, "Not really. I prefer Russian vodka. But if I have to, I guess I'll go with this French since this city doesn't seem to have any of my favorites"

"You seem to know your alcohol. Are you Russian? Your accent sounds like it"

"Yes. I grew up in a small village near Moscow before I left to spend most of my school years in London"

"That sounds nice. I prefer the countryside rather than the big stuffy cities anyway"

The girl giggled at that. "Really? I thought you would be the kind of man that likes the city. You _are _in a club"

"Hehehe" Ivan deeply laughed "You're right! Why didn't I just go to a bar or something? At least there is a bar fight or something. This place is too much for a country lover like me. The music hurts my ears and the people are way too drunk and horny"

The woman laughed again. "I have to agree. If that guy over there doesn't stop staring at me, I will have to use my shovel on him"

"Shovel?"**  
><strong>

The man looked down to the space that split between their stools. In it was a shovel, which head was rusted with dirt or something else.

"Yes, my weapon of choice is a shovel. Have a problem?"

"Not at all! I'm just surprised that a woman would carry such a thing!"

"I grew up on a farm, so carrying shovels was something I just got used to. Also, I hear you can decapitate someone with one of these things!"**  
><strong>

**"**Really? I once ripped a man's face open with my pipe"

"Your... pipe?"

"Da!"**  
><strong>

Ivan unbuttoned the beige coat he was wearing and opened one of the sides for the girl to see. In it was a compartment that seemed to lag down. The girl raised a eyebrow and she carefully opened the little compartment to see the shiny gleam of metal from it. She instantly saw the pipe that the man was talking about. It was a long silver one with a faucet on top. The faucet part was very rusty with some sort of substance.**  
><strong>

**"**I guess we both had a odd choice of weaponry" The woman said.**  
><strong>

The two laughed together again. After a little more of talking about weapons, the woman finally introduced herself. Her name is Anya Braginsky. Her last name made Ivan raise a brow, as they both share the same- Braginsky. After another hour or two, the two continued to talk about all kinds of things- the seasons, their favorite brands of vodka, even weird habits. However, when the topic of pastimes came up, Anya was a little hesitant to answer.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh, what's wrong?" Ivan asked, noticing the sudden stop in their ecstatic chatter.**  
><strong>

Anya was about to speak but she stopped herself. After a small pause, she said, "Nothing. It's just I don't like talking about my pastime"

"Your... pastime?"

"Yes"

"Can you give me a exception?"**  
><strong>

Ivan looked at her with a playful look. That lightened her mood and she was back to giggling again.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh, fine!" She said, taking a swig of vodka, "When I was a little ребенок, I wanted to be a ballerina. Ah I remember I would plié and chassé all around the house as I cleaned. I would use the sofa in the living room as a bar to lean on and everything!"**  
><strong>

Ivan was listening intently as his drinking companion began to reminiscing on her childhood dream. He seemed to enjoy it, though. The creases of his mouth were slightly curved up, showing a slight smile.**  
><strong>

**"**When I was five, I told my parents about it. They told me they took notice and wanted to support me. But we were very poor and with already 4 mouths to feed and one more on the way, there would no way I could afford to go to ballet school. I cried for days afterward. A few months later I found out about an audition for the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. What was unique about this was that the audition was for a full scholarship. I immediately told my parents about it. After a few weeks of arguing, my parents allowed me to try out. Holding my papa's hand, we ventured to St. Petersburg by rail. Surprisingly, I got the scholarship and for the next four years I would study there. I worked my ass off! The bruises on my feet and the unbearable pain were all worth it. I didn't care if I had to stay up to the wee hours of the morning- I just wanted to be able to dance and support my family. However, when I was eleven, I was suddenly withdrawn from the school by my parents. When I came back to my village, I immediately asked them why. They said I'll find out in due time and I was suddenly shipped off to London"**  
><strong>

Ivan looked up from his drink when he heard the name of the English city. He burrowed his eyebrows in curiosity.**  
><strong>

**"**London? Oh that's right. You mentioned you studied there earlier"

"You noticed. I'm a little surprised. Well, anyway, students at the academy had to take a core art for the years at the school. So I decided to take ballet of course. Turns out I was much better than all of the students my age. I was what you call a star student in the class. Many of the girls were jealous of me and my feet. Most didn't dare befriend me because I was so 'scary'. Everyone except for Marianne Bonnefoy"

Anya picked up her glass. She looked into the diamond texture of it as she tried to build up her thoughts.**  
><strong>

**"**Marianne was a girl from France who, like me, had dreams of being a ballerina. After a while, we became friends and we performed together. We even dreamed of opening a dance studio together. However, all of that went down the drain after some... uneventful events"**  
><strong>

She took a quick shot of vodka from the glass and slammed the glass onto the bar table. Ivan didn't move, not surprised by the sudden noise made by the impact.**  
><strong>

**"**Ever since then, I gave up dancing and now I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life"

* * *

><p>An Asian man was walking around the street. He seemed to be in a rush as his steps hit the ground faster and faster. His jet black hair (that was wrapped into a side ponytail) flew behind him, fine pieces flowing with the wind. His dark amber eyes shined with the lights of the sun and the reflections from the store windows he passed. The green flap of his mandarin jacket flew with the wind.<p>

Soon, he made an abrupt stop in front of a door. He grabbed his knees, bending over as he caught his breath. When his heavy breathing was gone, he looked up at the building in front of him. The building looked nothing like the other buildings surrounding it. The outside looked like a Chinese palace, the roof was a pagoda and the walls were made of stone. The door in front of him was gigantic and painted in a crimson red color. He took a small paper out of his pocket. He began rapidly switching his vision from the paper to the building until he is sure of what the paper says.

"So... This is the place..." He said, laced in a Chinese accent.**  
><strong>

He pressed his hands on the door and slowly pushed on it, opening the door. When he was safely behind the door, he looked at his surroundings. It looked like a busy restaurant, waiters hurriedly taking orders and running back and forth with the orders or food. The thing that seemed to make this restaurant different was that there was a large stage in the dead center of it. The man walked in a little more and noticed that there was a second floor to the building. The whole second floor was basically a balcony, overlooking the stage.**  
><strong>

He sat down at a small table, waiting for a waiter to come by. One came over soon. The waiter was a tall man, wearing traditional Chinese clothing. He set down the menu over to the man. The waiter went away for a moment to give the man time to figure out what he wanted to eat. The man skimmed over the menu, looking at all of the food items on it. After a minute, he placed it down onto the table. After a minute of waiting, he began to realize that that waiter wasn't going to be back for a while. So he began to look around. **  
><strong>

He noticed the beige of the walls and the red lining of the window posts. After realizing he was staring at a wall for ten minutes, he went to look at what most of the customers' attentions would be- the stage. If he was on the second floor, he probably would be able to see more of it. From what he could, though, the stage was basically bare and had a light shining down on it. He looked up and noticed the light was coming from a big window overhead. The sun's light was shining right down on the stage. He rested his head on one of his hands as he began to zone out.**  
><strong>

**"**Here to see the performance, sir?" A voice said, out of the blue.**  
><strong>

The man jumped, becoming frightened by the sudden sound. After regaining his composure, he turned to see the voice was his waiter.

"Aiyyyaaaaa! Don't scare me like that! You gave me a heart attack!"**  
><strong>

**"**Sorry about that, sir"

"It's alright. Anyway, yes, I am here to see the performance. I was intrigued by one of the performers' names so I wanted to see for myself if what I was thinking of was true"

"Oh, are you talking about Miss Wang?"

The man's face lit up at that.**  
><strong>

**"**You know about her?" The man asked, fascinated by the man's response.

"Yes! In fact I am a huge fan of hers! I was kinda surprised too that such a famous acrobat was going to perform in such a place! Uh! I mean- The Golden Dragon isn't a dump or anything! It's one of Canada's finest and biggest Asian cuisine restaurants. We even have great reviews from other countries because of how we preserve Chinese traditions!"**  
><strong>

**"**I thought you would be one of those youngsters that knew nothing of traditions!"

"I like to watch the Olympics so I got used to the names of regulars"

"Ah, I see"**  
><strong>

It was a second of silence before the waiter finally realized what he was there for.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh yes! What would you like to order?"

The man placed his order and the waiter ran quickly to the kitchen to place it in. The man turned towards the stage again, going into his thoughts.**  
><strong>

_Wang Chun-Yan. Age 23. Birthplace: Beijing. Famous for being one of the only acrobats to get a gold metal every year she has performed in the Olympics. She is one of my home's best acrobats and every year she is shipped off to another country to perform for them. What I, Wang Yao, am wondering about is how come such a famous athlete is dancing here rather than preparing for the Olympics. I also wonder how come my boss sent me over to this weird Western country to go find her. Wang... You better give me a good reason to be here._**  
><strong>

The waiter returned with a tea kettle and a cup and placed both on the table. He poured the hot tea into the cup, steam bursting out of it.**  
><strong>

**"**Your green tea, sir? Warning- It was just made so it's piping hot"

"Thank you for the warning"**  
><strong>

The waiter left to go back to his busy work. When the waiter was far enough, Yao turned back around. Yao suddenly heard a quick set of steps coming nearer and nearer to him. He turned to his right and noticed a woman was running towards him.**  
><strong>

**"**Aiyaaaaaaa!" The man screamed.**  
><strong>

The woman bumped right into Yao, bringing themselves and the table down onto the floor. Yao hit the floor hard, the woman landing right on top of him. He looked up and noticed the woman fell right on him. However, he was more angry than aroused by the situation.**  
><strong>

**"**What the hell!" Yao practically yelled.**  
><strong>

The woman had a unreadable expression on her face. It could be presumed to be fury, but it could also be concern. Yao was confused by her facial expression.

"Aiya! I'm sorry about that!" The woman said.**  
><strong>

**"**It's alright. Just be careful next time" Yao replied.**  
><strong>

The two finally got up, Yao wiping off some dust from the front of his jacket. After another swipe, he looked back up at the person that knocked him over. The woman in front of him was sort of petite, being the size and build of a teenage girl. Her slanted eyes were pools of amber and her fine hair was dark brown and wrapped into two buns on either side of her face.

After getting up, the two had to put back up the table that the woman knocked over. Yao picked up the table while the woman went to go get the fallen tea pot and cup. When she went over, she discovered both pieces of porcelain shattered into tiny shards. Her face quickly paled. She looked around quickly, searching for something. When she couldn't find it, she quickly cleaned up the porcelain shards and threw them into a nearby garbage can. When she returned, Yao was finished putting the furniture back into place.**  
><strong>

**"**I'm very sorry about what happened. I was just thinking about so many things at once that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going"**  
><strong>

Yao furrowed his eyebrows at that. He couldn't get his mind off of what could the woman have been thinking so much about that she would end up knocking over a customer. When he looked at her again, she was holding her head, face wrinkled up from concentrated thinking.**  
><strong>

**"**What's wrong, ma'am? You'll get wrinkles if you keep on stressing yourself like this"

The woman's eyes brightened at that. She decided to pull up a chair so the two could talk. The long explanation began when Yao was seated.**  
><strong>

**"**You see, I was hired to work here as a performer. I have a partner that performs with me here. However, he's missing"

"Missing? What do you mean?"

"When I woke up this morning, he wasn't in the room we were staying in. I looked _everywhere_for him! It's like he just disappeared off the face of the earth!"**  
><strong>

The woman's eyes were starting to get shiny from the water that was forming in them. Yao knew that this woman was truly distressed.**  
><strong>

**"**I'm so scared right now! This is our first performance in the restaurant! I- I don't know what to do!"

The woman put her hands over her eyes. Her back started to shake and her nose began to sniffle. She was crying. Yao looked at her with pure worry in his eyes.**  
><strong>

_I... I have to do something. This woman is in dear crisis right now. Maybe I can help find her partner..._**  
><strong>

Yao looked to his right to see a clock on the wall. The dial said it was 5:35.**  
><strong>

_That would be impossible. The only performance today starts at 6. It would be a miracle if we found him or her by then..._**  
><strong>

Yao went into deeper thought, trying to find a way to help the woman. After thinking up something good, he gulped and nervously said what he had to say.**  
><strong>

**"**W-Well, what kind of performing do you do?" He asked.**  
><strong>

The woman replied, still sobbing "Me and my partner are a-a-acrobats"

The man blinked a little at that. He looked at the flyer on the wall. It was an advertisement for the performance that was to happen tonight. The text part said that the performance tonight was only the performance he came for- Chun-Yan's. He started thinking even harder.**  
><strong>

_Hold up, Wang. This woman said she's a acrobat. The main performance tonight is a acrobatic performance. So could that mean that this woman in front of me is-... No, that can't be! The flyer said that the performance is a solo! Then that can't be her and her partner... Right?... Aiyaaa! This is too confusing!... Oh, screw it! I might as well!_**  
><strong>

**"**Can you perform with another partner?" Yao asked.**  
><strong>

**"**Uh- Maybe! I don't know! Me and my partner are at perfect sync with one another. I don't know if another person can go at the same timing as me!"

"... I'll do it"

"Wha-?"

"I said I'll do it! I'll be your partner!"**  
><strong>

**"**But sir! You're only a customer! I don't think-"

"I've spent years learning how to do gymnastics! Trust me, I think my old self can do it!"**  
><strong>

The woman's face brightened. She quickly hugged the man and thanked him repeatedly. The man's face only reddened.**  
><strong>

**"**N-No problem, miss!" Yao said nervously.**  
><strong>

**"**Anyway, I'll quickly give you a run-through of the routine. Come with me, mister..."

"Yao. Wang Yao"

"Oh, and by the way, I am Wang Chun-Yan!"**  
><strong>

Yao's eyes widened.**  
><strong>

_Aiyaaaaaaa! I was right! This girl _is _Wang Chun-Yan! But why does she need a performer with her... That's right. All of her performances are with her team... Wang Yao, you will definitely regret this later..._**  
><strong>

Chun-Yan grabbed Yao's hand and led him to the stage. They went to one corner of it. Chun-Yan dug under the stage to find a rope. She pulled on it and a part of the floor rose up, revealing a staircase. She signaled for Yao to follow her down the steps. The two went down the stairs to the very bottom. When they hit the new floor, Yao was surprised at what he saw. There was a whole other floor underneath the stage. A very busy floor to be exact. People were running up and down the hallway in bright and colorful costumes. They were all speaking loudly in Mandarin. Almost all of them were in a panic.**  
><strong>

**"**What do you mean Xiao Shaiming is gone?" One of the people in the hallway was yelling at another in their native language.**  
><strong>

**"**I'm telling you the truth! Xiao Shaiming just left! Nowhere to be found! Look, I even have proof!" Another yelled back.**  
><strong>

The two people ran further down the hallway. Yao looked at Chun-Yan and she looked sad.**  
><strong>

**"**I'm guessing your partner is the one they are talking about?" Yao asked, switching to Mandarin to assist the environment.

Chun-Yan responded, also in Mandarin, "Yes... My younger brother, Shaiming, is my partner"

Yao's eyes grew as wide as plates when he heard that.**  
><strong>

_Wahhhh! Chun- Yan's partner is her brother? My boss never told me that part! No wonder she was so distressed earlier. Why would her brother do that, though? Did they have an argument or something? Guh! This is getting more and more frustrating the more I investigate._**  
><strong>

Chun-Yan continued to lead the way. On the way, Yao noticed something out the corner of his eye. He looked over and saw the two shouting people from earlier in a room. The man that was being accused was pointing to a empty part of the room.**  
><strong>

**"**See, his stuff is gone! All of it! I told you he is gone!"

"That's just stupid! Chun- Yan is still here! If Shaiming left, he would have dragged her with him!"

Yao stopped looking into the room and continued following Chun-Yan. Many things also caught Yao's eyes. The walls were colored the ugly color yellow like the walls from the upper part of the building. The thing that made these wall different were that they were lined with cracks and ,every once in a while, mouse holes. The red hardwood floors were cheaply made and broken in many parts. The level they were walking on as a whole looked, in one word sum - like shit. The walls were shitty. The wood floor was shitty. Everything was freaking shitty. The only thing that wasn't was the objects that were in the hallways. Along the line of some of the walls were boxes filled with colorful ornament and props. And every once in a while, a coat rack filled with vivid costumes would be by a door.

Soon, Yao and Chun-Yan made it to their destination- a dressing room. Chun-Yan told him to wait there as she dashed out the room for a moment. Trying to find something to do, Yao began to look around this room. It was very messy- clothing and makeup on the floor. He didn't particularly like the smell of the room. It smelled of a horribly strong musk. He coughed a little, trying to get used to the smell. He looked and saw a mirror to his left. He looked ahead and noticed a very tall folding screen. He walked over to it. He placed his hand on it and felt the cotton fabric texture of it. Before he could turn around again, someone tapped his shoulders. He spun his head around and saw Chun-Yan was there.**  
><strong>

**"**Sorry about that, Yao. Here is the costume you will have to wear. Go behind the screen you were looking at and change there"

Chun-Yan put the clothes in his hands. Yao followed his instructions and quickly ran behind the screen.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh, and no peeking! I'm changing too!"**  
><strong>

Yao and Chun-Yan changed into their clothes in under a minute. When the coast was clear, Yao returned into the room. Yao examined the new clothes he got- a crimson red mandarin jacket, white pants, and red shoes. He looked over at Chun-Yan's new clothing as she hurriedly put on some red lipstick. Chun-Yan wore a black qipao dress and pants and matching black flats and newsboy hat. After lining the waterline of her eyes with black eyeliner, she began to carefully stick a dark pink carnation into her hair.**  
><strong>

**"**Okay, Yao, while I'm doing this, I want to see how flexible you are. Stretch as much as you can because on stage we can't"

"Really?"

"Yes. The restuarant owner doesn't like the performers to do all that extra stuff during the performance. But we all do it down here, so don't think that we don't!"**  
><strong>

**"**Oh okay"

Yao began to stretch as much as he can. When he finished, Chun-Yan put the last pin in her hair and was also ready to go. She stood up from her chair and stood in front of Yao.**  
><strong>

**"**Okay, so are you ready for a little warm-up?"

"Yes"

"Okay so first, can you a bridge?"

Yao did as he was told. He leaned his chest backward until his hands could touch the floor behind him. He arched his back up, making him pose like a crab. She looked at him for a second, making sure he was positioned correctly.**  
><strong>

**"**Good. How flexible are your legs?"

Yao got right back up in his original standing position. He easily kicked his leg up to bend right by his shoulder.**  
><strong>

**"**Hmm. Okay, so you seem to have flexible legs... But I'm still not sure. Can you do a split?"

Yao put his leg down. He slowly slid onto the floor, one leg in front and one in the back. When he was fully on the floor, he crossed his arms and gave Chun-yan a sarcastic look that said "Oh, what next, wise master?"

"Can you turn the other way?"**  
><strong>

Yao obliged by turning completely around, still with a "Okay, next" look on his face.**  
><strong>

**"**Center split"

Yao simply rolled his eyes and moved his legs to either side of his hips.**  
><strong>

**"**Wow. Okay. One last thing. The main thing for this performance is the series of flips near the end of it. Can you at least do a frontal flip?"

Yao got up from his split on the floor. He breathed in and did a regular frontal flip.

"Can you do it with no hand-"

Not even letting her finish her sentence, Yao did another flip, except without using his hands. He then went on to do a series of somersaults and back flips until he landed right in front of Chun-Yan again. She was utterly amazed.**  
><strong>

**"**I... I think you might be a great partner for me, Yao! Okay, then let's go over the routine!"**  
><strong>

They began to go over the routine with the limited time they had. However, would they be able to finish it in time?**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>After another hour of talking, our French duet were outside Marianne's ballet studio. This time, she was wearing a long white dress that was covered by a navy blue blazer and purple caplet. The two were still laughing and giggling. Marianne was locking up her studio while Francis was still trying to flirt with her while leaning on a streetlight. Outside was very dark, showing the darkness of nightfall. The streetlight that Francis was leaning against was on, bringing some light to street the two were on.<strong><br>**

**"**Oh, mademoiselle, you are a work of art! A statue crafted by the loving hands of God" Francis said flirtatiously, with rose in hand.

Marianne simply responded, "Oh, monsieur, if you keep on saying things like that, I won't stop laughing"

Marianne locked the final lock on her studio. She stepped down from the steps of the brown-house looking building. Francis left his flirting aside for a moment.**  
><strong>

**"**I'm a little curious. Why do you have such heavy security on your studio? There's five locks on the place!"

"Despite the looks of this area, there have been a handful of robberies in shops around here recently. So I want to make sure my treasured studio doesn't have the same fate as the others"

"Oh, I see"**  
><strong>

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Francis's head and a smirk grew on the corner of his mouth.**  
><strong>

**"**Wellllll, Marianne, if this area is so dangerous, why walk alone? I can take you back to your place, non?"**  
><strong>

Marianne raised a brow, "Francis, that was a good one! High five!"**  
><strong>

The two shared a high five momentarily. Francis gave Marianne a look that was screaming "I'm an adorable lost puppy! Take me home with you!". Marianne sighed and smirked.**  
><strong>

**"**Fineeeeeeeee, you silly boy! I'll let you take me out on a date!"

"Really! Merci, beauté!"

The woman's cheeks turned a little rose-colored at Francis's comment. Before she could make a silly comment in French, the French national anthem started to play in the darkness. Francis quickly dug into his pockets to take out his cellphone. Soon classical music began to play and Marianne reached to get her phone of her blazer pocket. They both put the phones to their ears. The streetlight started to blink as it was slowly losing power.**  
><strong>

**…**_Tandem… Libertatis…_**  
><strong>

The duo's eyebrows furrowed when they heard a voice say that on the other line.**  
><strong>

**"**Qu'est-ce-" Francis said.**  
><strong>

_Nunc tempus ingredi fantasia…_**  
><strong>

Before the two of them could make a reply, the person on the other end of their phones hung up. They both closed their phones and put them safely into their pockets.**  
><strong>

Marianne immediately asked Francis, "What was that all about?"

"I don't know. All I heard was a little girl on the phone saying some gibberish"

"Oooh, the same thing happened to me! _Freakkkkkyyyyyyy_**"  
><strong>

The two simply shrugged off what just happened. They linked their arms together and they were off to their date. But what they hadn't notice is that there was a giant black hole right below their feets. When they couldn't feel the cold surface of the ground, their faces paled. In a matter of seconds, like cartoon characters, Francis and Marianne were sent plummeting down the hole. All was heard in the distance was the sound of them both screaming "Sacrebleu!". Soon the hole closed and the world was back to normal. The brisk night was back to its original quietness. The streetlight that Francis was on continue to blink on and off until it went black from losing all of its power.

* * *

><p>Ivan and Anya were still in the bar. It had come to a point where Ivan was trying to think of something up to respond to Anya's life story. His snow-colored face showed his irritation. He was trying to understand how such a successful woman would just throw away her dreams after some unnamed events. In fact, there was no point of understanding. After another sip of vodka, Ivan began to speak.<strong><br>**

**"**Why would you give up such a dream over some 'uneventful events'?" Ivan asked suddenly.**  
><strong>

Anya turned her head sharply, causing some of her hair to whip to the other side of her slim frame.**  
><strong>

**"**I mean, I don't know what happened, but you still shouldn't give up on something you've dreamed of doing ever since you were little!"**  
><strong>

Lavender eyes grew wide as Ivan rolled out those words from his mouth. Anya was utterly shocked at the words. She couldn't find a way to respond.**  
><strong>

**"**I-I-I... You're right, Ivan" Anya said, not noticing that Ivan's eyes went right over to her now, "I guess it was childish that I gave up my dreams after what happened... I think- I think I should give ballet another try-"

The bartender from earlier came over to Ivan, interrupting the two's conversation.

"Umm... Are you Ivan Braginski?" She asked.**  
><strong>

**"**Yes I am. How do you know?"

"The name sounded Russian and you have a Russian accent so I just-"

"There's no need to panic. I was just curious. Anyway, what is going on?"

"Oh, someone called my cell phone and told me it was for Ivan and Anya Braginski. I had no idea who the other person was but I had a feeling the Ivan was you"

The bartender gave her cellphone to Ivan. Anya looked as worried as Ivan was. Just who was calling this woman for people she didn't even know? They definitely wanted to find out. Ivan put the phone to his ear.**  
><strong>

**…**_Tandem… Libertatis…_**  
><strong>

Ivan demanded, "Who is thi-"

_Nunc tempus ingredi fantasia…_**  
><strong>

As fast as those words went into Ivan's ears was as fast as the person on the other end of the line hung up. Ivan closed the phone and gave it back to the bartender.**  
><strong>

**"**So, who was it? I'm a little freaked out this person called me for you" The bartender asked.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh, it was just a friend of mine. I don't know how she got your number though"

"Ohhh I see. Phew! That really scared me. Well, when you are done, tell me so you can pay for your bottles"

The bartender went back to her work after saying that. Immediately, Anya leaned her face near Ivan's to ask about the call.**  
><strong>

**"**Ivan, you didn't know the person on the other line... Did you?" Anya asked.**  
><strong>

Ivan raised an eyebrow as he took another chug of vodka. He slammed the glass onto the bar table and let out a long-needed sigh.**  
><strong>

**"**You know, you are smarter than you look" Ivan said "Yes. I had no idea who that person was. The person on the other end sounded like a little girl. She was also speaking some odd Mediterranean language, like Spanish or Italian"

"That's odd..."

"Indeed. I am hoping it was just a prank-"**  
><strong>

Before Ivan and Anya could finish up their conversation, they were suddenly pushed out of their seats by some kind of invincible force. As they flew backward, the floor they were supposed to hit became a black hole. They fell into the hole, shouting Russian profanities on the way down. As fast as the hole appeared was as fast as it left. In a matter of seconds, the hole closed up and the nightclub was back to normal. The only reminders that the two were there at some point was Anya's forgotten shovel and Ivan's pipe. The bartender came back with Ivan and Anya's bill to see that they were gone. She immediately became pissed and thew the paper on the floor.**  
><strong>

**"**Damn it! I'm going to be fired for this!" She yelled.

* * *

><p>"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you all for coming to the Golden Dragon, Canada's most prized Asian restaurant, this evening!" An announcer said.<strong><br>**

The time is 6 o'clock sharp. A plump man stood on the stage in the middle of the restaurant, announcing the performance Chun-Yan and Yao are in. The restaurant was dim while the stage had a bright light on it.**  
><strong>

**"**Today, like every Thursday evening, we have a performance. Since this is the first week of the month, the performance will represent the traditions of China. One of China's most prized performing arts is acrobatics! Today, we have famous Chinese acrobat, Chun-Yan Wang, and her partner, Shaimin-"

A man hurriedly ran onto the stage and began whispering in the announcer's ear. The announcer looked furious for a moment but then went back to his chipper facade as the man left.**  
><strong>

**"**Okay, there has been a change! Today, we have famous Chinese acrobat, Chun-Yan Wang, and her _apprentice_, Yao Wang, as the main performance tonight. Of course, there will other kinds of performances by the members of our crew tonight, so do not fret. So, now let's hear it for Chun- Yan and Yao!"**  
><strong>

The patrons of the restaurant went off in thunderous applause. They were all pumped up to see the two perform.**  
><strong>

As the audience was clapping, underneath the stage, Yao and Chun-Yan were there at the end of the staircase.**  
><strong>

**"**Okay, Yao, we are going up in a second. Are you ready?"

In Yao and Chun-Yan's hands were ceremonial swords. Yao had one while Chun-Yan had two. Yao looked at his for a moment. It had a gold sheath and was decorated by a gold dragon and red circles and stripes. He smiled at the sight of the dragon and then went to answer Chun-Yan's question.**  
><strong>

**"**Of course"

Chun-Yan opened the door to the stage and they both went up. As they came out of the floor, the crowd began to cheer even more. Yao went to the left of the stage while Chun-Yan closed the door shut. Yao and Chun-Yan got into their positions. They both took a deep breath.

Suddenly, the soft sounds of a gupin was being played in the background. At that cue, Chun- Yan and Yao began to walk slowly in a circle, never losing the distance with each other. Then the soft music began to get louder and louder and they moved faster and faster until the sound of a gong was heard. They stopped right in their places at that. Then there was pure silence. In fact, there wasn't even a sound from the audience. Suddenly, a beat came in and Chun-Yan began to move again. Another beat came in and repeated what Chun-Yan did. Then a couple more beats and the song began to play and the two began to perform. As Yao danced on the stage, he began to remember what Chun-Yan was telling her downstairs.**  
><strong>

**"**_Okay, Yao. This performance isn't like most acrobatic performances. This is basically a sword fight"_**  
><strong>

_Chun-Yan threw a sword at Yao and he quickly grabbed it before it hit him._**  
><strong>

**"**_Do you know how to fight with one of these?"  
><em>

_"Of course"  
><em>

_"Great. Now this sword fight we are having will involve dancing. Just remember that the timing must be on point"  
><em>

_"Timing?"  
><em>

_"Yes. The key to acrobatics is being in tune with the music. We must be _absolutely_on key with the music and our steps. You follow everything I do, got it?"  
><em>

_"Got it"_**  
><strong>

**"**_The first part is basically just the fight. Everything I do, you do the opposite way. If I go left, you go right. Stuff like that. When the song slows down, we basically start falling out and going slow. Then when the song picks up again is where we bust out all of the flips and somersaults. The last part is where we have to be on cue the most, got it?"  
><em>

_"Of course... I guess?"_**  
><strong>

Yao and Chun-Yan were still dancing on the stage. Like how Chun-Yan described, the two were having a sword fight- one doing flips when the other tried to strike or graceful movements with every clash. Many of the audience members were dazzled by their performance so far. Many others were whispering to each other.**  
><strong>

**"**Oh wow, they are so in tune with each other! They could be related!"**  
><strong>

**"**Yeah, they look so alike! Same eye color! Same hair! Same surname!"

"They _have _to be related"**  
><strong>

**"**Mommy, Mommy! They're so cool! They look like each other!"**  
><strong>

It wasn't a surprise that the audience members were saying things like that. It was like looking at a mirror image if you sat far enough. They were completely in tune with each other, even after every spin and twirl. And as the audience described it, they definitely look alike. Yao and Chun-Yan had the same hair color and texture. Their eyes both gleamed brown hues. They also shared the same surname, Wang. It wasn't a surprise that everyone was getting confused.**  
><strong>

The second part of the song came in and the music began to slow down. Like how Chun-Yan described, she began to dramatically fall to the ground. Yao followed and fell down as well. Chun-Yan and Yao both faced the opposite way so they wouldn't be able to see each other. Despite this, they both were dancing the exact same moves. Chun-Yan began to take notice of this.**  
><strong>

_This is amazing! Yao is doing excellent! I haven't even known him for a half an hour and yet he can perform even better than Shaiming! I never even got enough time to review this part with him. It's like he has eyes on the back of his head. _**  
><strong>

As the song began to go back to its original speed, Chun-Yan and Yao began to rise from the floor. Chun-Yan gave a slight nod to her head and they both dropped their swords. The lights that were originally off in the restaurant suddenly came on, brightening up the once dark place. The two began to do the series of flips that Chun-Yan was talking about earlier down in the under floor of the stage. Like cheerleaders, they did a series of flips onto different sides of the stage until the song began to play its ending. When the last verse was sung, the two fell down into a regular split, facing each other. The songs of children singing lalalala was heard and the two got up from the floor. The two began to prance around the stage. **  
><strong>

During it, Chun-Yan looked at Yao for a split second, still dancing however. He... He was smiling. It was like he found his internal happiness. He even started laughing. She was utterly dumbfounded by his reaction.**  
><strong>

_Why... Why is he so happy all of a sudden? He was so serious earlier! I hate it when a person acts so carefree for a performance that can jeopardize someone else's future! I... Guh I hate him!_**  
><strong>

Chun-Yan immediately stopped thinking when Yao's smile flashed at her. He looked incredibly handsome, smiling like how a child would. It was like a new fire burned in her heart. If she could, she would have stopped dancing right there. She wasn't risking her job for such a feeling though. However, she did miss her footing at one point, almost stumbling over. Before anyone in the audience could notice, Yao made a small stumble too. He gave a slight nod to her, implying he got the almost accident under control. Chun-Yan nodded back and the two continued to prance.

As the song began to die down, something was very different. The serious Chun-Yan from before seemed to have left the building because now she was uncontrollably smiling. It looked like a new life was in her heart. She danced even better this time and much more passionate. She even grabbed Yao and swung around with him in a circle. The two looked so happy. Both could agree on one thing- they never wanted this feeling of overwhelming happiness to end. **  
><strong>

When the song finally ended, Chun-Yan gave Yao a big hug. His face turned red. Before he could saying anything, the audience roared in approval of their performance. Many were clapping while others let put ear-deafening whistles. Even the waiter that served Yao earlier was clapping.**  
><strong>

"Wow, who would have known that that customer was Wang Chun-Yan's apprentice..." The waiter said before going back to work.**  
><strong>

The announcer joined the two on stage. He forcefully pulled the happy duo off of each other but not enough so that someone in the audience could take notice. The two were surprised but ended up having their serious faces again.**  
><strong>

"Another round for the lovely Chun-Yan Wang and her apprentice!" He said through his microphone.**  
><strong>

Yao looked over to see Chun-Yan was staring at him. She was giving him a certain look that made Yao suddenly realize he forgotten something. The two nodded and slowly bowed in unison. The audience obliged to the announcer's earlier request and clapped and cheered even louder.**  
><strong>

What they couldn't hear was the voice of someone saying a certain Latin phrase over the speaker. After the applause was over, Chun-Yan grabbed Yao's hand and dragged him off stage. As she quickly reached for the rope, Yao began to question her.**  
><strong>

"Hey! What was that for?" He asked, a little agitated by her sudden pulling.**  
><strong>

"You... As soon as you change your costume, you will have to leave..."**  
><strong>

Yao was surprised at Chun-Yan's comment. He was agitated still bit when he looked at Chun-Yan's face, he couldn't help but become more worried than angry. She wore an emotionless expression. The only time he saw someone have such an expression was on a man who was walking to his execution or a old friend of his. He started to get worried. Just what could possibly crash the once lively girl into smithereens like that? He definitely wanted to know.**  
><strong>

"Huh- How come? I just helped you and you can't-"**  
><strong>

"Just do it!"**  
><strong>

Yao's beige face turned to the color of snow when he heard Chun-Yan practically screech at him. No one in the audience heard her or even cared. She went back to opening the door to the stage.**  
><strong>

When it was opened, Chun-Yan mumbled, " You wouldn't understand..."**  
><strong>

She quickly ran down the stairs in a fury. He chased her down the stairs. As she was running, she almost stepped into a hole and stopped her stepping. She stopped and quickly began to check the hole. Where the end of the stairs would be was said hole. She didn't want to attempt to fall down this one because it seemed to give off a ominous aura from it. While running, Yao noticed that Chun-Yan stopped. He tried to stop but he lost his footing. He was sent tumbling down the stairs. Chun-Yan didn't have an enough of a reaction time to move out of the way. Due to this, he knocked her over and the two fell down the hole. No one downstairs could hear their Aiyaaaa's on the way down. The hole closed up and the world was back in place. A group of performers trampled over the spot the hole once was. One of the performers stopped for a moment looked down. He bend down and picked up the thing that caught his eye- a pink carnation. He inspected it briefly.**  
><strong>

"Ping! Let's go!" A voice yelled from up the staircase.**  
><strong>

Not objecting to the voice's demand, he dropped the flower and ran upstairs. All was left was the pink carnation and the closing of the door above it.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you everyone for waiting patiently for this chapter! Sorry it was so long! I'll reveal to you why it was this long when time comes. And thank you for your continued support. If any of you have questions, PM me them. Pleaseeeee don't put them in the reviews because they might contain spoilers. And no one likes spoilers, right? So just click the PM button, 'kay?~ :D<strong>

**Anyway! Next chapter will have the first offffiiiccalllll chapter of Hetalia in Fantasia. It will cover a looottttt of BS that won't have to be discussed in chapter 2. The best part is- The Axis Powers are back :DDDD  
>Also, Yao and Chun-Yan dance to the instrumental version of China's character song, Nihao China. I recommend you listen to it while you read over that part. If you are wondering, this is not meant to be a song fic. I just like music to be put in to enhance readers' experiences. Hope that helps you all out.<strong>

**See you all next chapter! Signing out for now!**

**-Sam2daXD **


	4. Chapter 1 - Down the Rabbit Hole

Hey everyone! This is simplelovelyfanfictions! It's been almost a year since I updated hasn't it? OTL I'm reallllly sorry. It just too forever because I had to explain a lot then school and life happened. And just uggh. I'm sooooo sorry! OTL  
>PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEE ENJOY!<p>

Also this chapter is extremely long due to the explanations and stuff in it.

So please, please, please, enjoy and r and r.

-simplelovelyfanfictions

* * *

><p><span>Chapter<span> 1 - Down the Rabbit Hole

Feliciano, Margherita, Ludwig, Monika, Kiku, and Sakura were outside in National City just minutes ago. Now they were falling down a huge, dark hole. It felt ironic in a way. But all six were sure that they have never free fallen down a hole before. At least not as big as this. Due to the blackness of the abyss surrounding them, none of the six could see one another. However, they could definitely hear each other. The Italians were screaming at the top of their lungs.

"MARGHERITA! I'M A-SO SCARED!" Feliciano hollered.

He looked over at his right and saw that his female companion was screaming no longer. Instead, she was saying mumbling in Italian.

"Padre nostro che sei nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo Nome_..._"

Feliciano recognized the beginning of the prayer he said every Sunday at Mass, Padre Nostro - The Lord's Prayer. Oh, what a good time to hear this prayer. The prayer is meant to remove the fear from the hearts of the faithful, giving a feeling that someone out there is watching over them. However, it caused Feliciano to panic even more.

"OH C'MON, MARGHERITA!"

"This... THIS IS NOT FUNNY!" Ludwig yelled. Ludwig wanted this to be some kind of sick joke. Everyone did. It isn't his greatest pleasure to be suddenly free falling to your imminent doom? No, right?

"WHOEVER IS PULLING THIS BETTER STOP NOW!" Monika yelled into the blackness surrounding them.

She got no response.

"H-How is this happening?!" Sakura asked aloud.

"This... This is like something from an anime! And I'm not liking it!" Kiku stated, shutting her eyes in fear.

Monika's eyes opened wider than they already were when she saw something- white. It was only a speck, but within the pure blackness, it was quite noticeable. She looked backward a little to see what was going on behind. Everyone was accounted for. So now, she took the opportunity to say her findings.

Monika yelled, "Guys! I- I think I see light!"

Feliciano stopped screaming and yelled"Really?! That's a-good, right?!"

Ludwig yelled, getting worried, "Wait... There's light... THERE'S LIGHT! KIKU! FELICIANO! POSITIONS NOW!"

"WHY, DOITSU?!" Feliciano yelled, not wanting to.

"BECAUSE WE'RE POSSIBLY FREE FALLING TO OUR DEATHS! WE HAVE TO PROTECT THE HUMANS!"

"Humans... What the heck are you talking about?" Monika asked quietly.

"AHHHHHH! I'M GONNA A-DIE!" Feliciano screamed.

"NO YOU AREN'T! NOW MAN UP!" Ludwig yelled.

"OH FINE, MEANIE PANTS!"

Before everyone knew it, the white engulfed them. In a matter of seconds, they were falling through a dark pink circle of light.

During the whole ordeal, only Margherita and Feliciano were brave enough to keep their eyes open. The clothes that everyone was wearing before were now evaporating into white flickers. Somehow, they forgot the fact they were falling and enjoyed the show. Both were in pure awe of this little dance of white and pink before them. It was like a ballet- the sparkles were the performers and the dark pink circle was the ribbons.

It took them a good moment until they looked down. Feliciano and Margherita saw greenery. Trees? Plants? They couldn't tell from the height they were at. But whatever it was, the green symbolized the end of their ride- the ground. And they were falling straight down to it. And may the panic begin again.

When they all were through the hoop, they continue to plummet to the bottom of whatever land there was below them. They fell out of the hole and were now falling from the sky to the green land below.

"_HOLD __ON __EVERYONE_!" Ludwig hollered.

"Feli! I'm-a really scared!"

"I'm too!" Feliciano said, holding onto her closer.

Suddenly, they were all surrounded by green and brown. All that was heard was crunching of branches and the occasional pained moan or groan. Then, there was a short quiet until three loud impacts on hard ground were heard. Then silence settled back in.

* * *

><p>A soft sound of feminine moaning and groaning ended the silence. The moans were joined by another set of deep groans. Monika and Ludwig were slowly opening their eyes, bodies hurting like pure hell. They slowly and painfully began to lift their chests up. The two somehow got off of each other and were sitting up, looking around. They looked ahead and found their Japanese friends, laying down as if asleep.<p>

"Sakura!" Monika, though in pain, got up the instant she saw Sakura and ran over to her aid. When she got over to Sakura and Kiku, she began to try to help the two. She quickly released Sakura from Kiku's grasp and laid Sakura out on the stone ground next to him. Sakura was knocked out cold. Her body was unmoving and she was fast asleep. Ludwig ran over to Kiku soon after.

"Kiku! Kiku!" Ludwig shouted, shaking his friend.

The man in question was still in a sleep-like state. No matter how hard he shook, his companion wouldn't wake up.

Ludwig tried something else. "JAPAN!"

Kiku's eyes instantly opened wide. It looked like his eyeballs were about to pop out of his skull from how wide he opened his eyes. He blinked twice and began to collect what happened. Ludwig lifted his back up so he could sit up straight. The whole time while Ludwig was helping his friend, Monika gave him a very skeptical look.

"_This i__s __very __odd__... __How __are __the __two __of __them __fine __after __such __a __fall__? __Even __I __am __still __recovering __from __the __fall__!... __I __can__'__t __help __but __feel __they __shouldn__'__t __be __trusted__... __Can __they __be__?... __Could __they __be __possibly __hiding __something__?..."_

Kiku was looking into the sky above them. "So we finally reached the bottom of the hole" Kiku stated.

_Spies__?..._

"It seems" Ludwig said, sighing a little.

"Where are we?"

_Soldiers__?..._

"No clue"

_What __are __they__?_

"Hmm..." A soft voice moaned.

Everyone turned to see Sakura made the sound. She was finally awake ans was now trying to get up. From everyone could see from their spot, Sakura was uninjured.

"Sakura! Are you okay?!" Monika asked, as she crawled over to Sakura again.

"I'm perfectly fine. We should be worrying about Kiku and..."

"Ludwig. Ludwig Beilschmidt." He said.

"Yes, and you and..."

As Monika gave another questioning look to Ludwig, everyone turned to the two people they were talking about- the Italians.

Margherita was already sitting upright while Feliciano was on the ground, face down. Neither of the two Italians looked up or even moved that the Ludwig quickly got up and ran over to where the two were, followed by everyone else.

The German man gently scooped the male Italian into his arms. Ludwig quickly turned Feliciano over, and his eyes widened when he noticed the thing that kept Feliciano from waking up- a huge gash on his forehead. He examined the boy in his arms delicately. Feliciano's original lightly tanned skin was a shade of grey and blue. His lips turned into a blue undertone. He looked like he was asleep but...he wasn't breathing... and...

No, Ludwig wasn't going to accept this. He quickly tried to find Feliciano's pulse but to no avail.

Ludwig looked up at all of the other people that were with him. He gave them a sullen look and slightly shook his head side to side to say a "no". But even that simple gesture had heavy meaning. Sakura covered her mouth and Monika eyes' showed her shock.

Monika felt her eyes were starting to sting.

"_Shit__... Even _I'm_ crying__..."_

Monika began to quickly wipe her eyes of the tears she refused to show. As she was furiously wiping, her eyes wandered over to Kiku. Kiku was unemotional in this time of mourning. In fact, he looked inappropriately cold.

"_What __the __hell__... __How __can __that __man __not __even __give __a __bit __of __remorse __at __a __time __like __this__?! __Wasn__'__t __Feliciano __one __of __his __friends__?! __Okay__. __This __is __not __funny__... __Who __the __hell __are __these __people__?!"_

Monika's eyes caught the color of brown and she turned to see its source - Margherita.

Margherita was unchanged. According to what Monika could remember, the girl hadn't moved since they first saw her when they all landed. Margherita's face was like the stone they landed on- cold and hard. It was like all the energy and cheerfulness she always had just left her body, leaving behind an empty shell. She just stared and stared. It was like she wasn't even staring at Feliciano anymore... What... What was she even staring at?

"OH CRAP! SAKURA! GO, GO, GO!" Monika suddenly yelled.

In between the brief mourning, Sakura quickly got up and grabbed Margherita, pulling her away from the boy. As the two went away deep into the forest, Sakura tried her best to comfort her friend, saying soft lies to her.

"Margherita, it's okay... That Italian boy isn't dead- ah- I mean- he merely just passed out. Yes! He is just taking a little nap..."

Slowly, Sakura's voice turned from a voice, to a whisper, to a murmur, and finally, to silence. The two were gone, leaving Monika, Ludwig, and Kiku there with Feliciano's body. But this make Monika falter. This was a signal to get to the bottom of this identity crisis.

Monika quickly snapped her body to face Ludwig.

"What the hell was that?!" Ludwig and Monika yelled at each other. The two were a little dumbfounded by how fast they responded the same thing.

Why did Monika yell for Sakura to take Margherita somewhere? Why did Margherita react in such a way? And a even bigger question, what is up with Monika? Does she have mood swings or something?! Ludwig looked like he was brewing up a maelstrom as he was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with his fellow German.

"You go first!" Monika yelled.

"Ladies first!" Ludwig said.

"You go!" Monika's voice rose, like lightning coming out of nowhere.

"After you!" Ludwig's voice rose, like the thunder that came after.

"Would both of you shut your mouths and talk?!" Kiku said, breaking his calm mantra.

The Germans turned to Kiku.

"Monika, correct? You go first" Kiku decided, not caring whether the two wanted it or not. It seemed the stormy atmosphere was getting to the usually calm and collected Kiku.

Monika quickly snapped, fiery anger sliding off her tongue"Fine! I want to know who the hell are you people?! How can you both stay _so__calm_ when your friend has died-"

"Monika! You shouldn't take it any further than that! You know too much anyway!"

"Too much about what?!" Monika put her hands on her hips.

"Too much..." Ludwig wavered for a moment, trying to figure out how to say his response, "... about us! You're a human-"

"Why do you keep on calling me a human?! I'm a person, not a human! What are you?! An alien or something-"

"Veh-! Pasta!"

Everyone's heads slowly about-faced, as if they are slowing turning to see their eminent doom behind them. They looked over at the body of their fallen Italian.

The light of day shined on his body, like a message of heaven was coming onto him. His eyes abruptly opened, revealing his bright amber eyes. He jerked up, taking in the air as if this breath was his first. After a few seconds, he grabbed the back of his head and started whining.

"Germany, _Germany_! My head hurts!" Feliciano childishly whined.

Kiku ran over to Feliciano to help him up, while Ludwig walked over slowly to him. Monika was completely shocked the whole time. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She couldn't do anything.

"_He__'__s__dead__he__'__s__dead__he__'__s__dead__. __How __the _fuck _is __he __breathing __or __even __moving __right __now__?! __He __was __dead __when __Ludwig __checked __him __and __everything__! __How__... __How __is __this __even __possible__?! __What __the __utter __fuck __is __going __on__?!"_

"Feli?"

Everyone turned and saw the Margherita and Sakura returned, standing in the bushes. Though their far distance, it was visible how pale the two gotten when they saw Feliciano standing. Breathing. _Alive_.

Margherita ran over to Feliciano, like a marathon runner dashing that last mile, and quickly pulled him into an embrace. Feliciano was a little shocked at first, unsure of what to do. A girl- well, no, actually an acquaintance- just randomly ran up to him and hugged him! But who cares, right? Every time is a good time for being happy, right? He grabbed onto Margherita and started spinning her around.

It stupefied everyone how fast the two Italians' moods had changed. One was dead, while the other was mourning what seemed like seconds ago. Now the duo were dancing and cheering and laughing.

Sakura walked over to a spot next to Monika. "Monika, do you know what's going on?"

Monika replied, "I... I haven't a clue..."

Monika couldn't get that out of her head. What she had saw happen to the Italian man. She knew that the man died. No, in fact, she was _positive_the man died. But it was as if nothing happened to Feliciano. His face was not a bluish pale. His lips were not lavender. His eyes were not gray. His face was now it's original soft tan. His lips now their original soft pink. His eyes now their beautiful amber.

Who in the world are those men?

"Okay, now how the hell did that happen?!" Monika asked, nearly shouting.

The happy Italians halted their joyous dancing.

Ludwig sighed and crossed his arms. "Monika..." Ludwig looked over at Kiku.

Kiku looked unmoved by Monika's inquiry. But his eyes told another story, a story of pain, anger, betrayal, revenge, sorrow, and, out of everything, relief. Kiku nodded a little, cueing his German friend to continue. Ludwig sighed again and tried to start explaining how this happened.

"Monika, you see... We aren't _exactly_ human..."

"Well, I figured that out easily! But what the hell are you then?!"

"We... We are na-"

A roar filled the forest they were in, like lightning striking your path. The birds of the forest flew into the sky and thunderous stampeding erupted in the forest.

Ludwig and Monika quickly got into action. They both commanded, "Everyone, get in the trees!"

Everyone obeyed and they climbed up the trees to find some sort of protection from the stampede to come. In seconds, the animals of the forest began to run across the stone floor they were on to the other side of the forest. Everyone noticed the vibrant colors of the backs of the animals- reds, browns, blues... purples... pinks... Animals aren't supposed to be pink.

After the stampede left, they got down from the trees, looking around to see if any more were coming.

Suddenly, the ground shook, like a miniature earthquake erupted. Soon as it left, the ground shook again. Sakura and Kiku were getting worried as the ground shook louder and faster as it approached them. Monika and Ludwig looked ready to rumble. Suddenly the ground stopped shaking. And silence entered the forest. A pure, unadulterated silence that is found in many horror films just before the predator comes after its prey. This eerie noiseless environment left hands sweating, hearts beating, and bodies shaking. When is the predator gonna come out?

A rustle and a squeak ended the silence. It caused everyone to snap to the source of the sound- Margherita. She was looking down at a fantastic looking creature that was nuzzling her ankles. It looked like a mix between a ferret and a cat- big, pointed ears and eyes like a cat but slender, long body of a ferret. The base color of its fur was ivory with several shades of orange, tangerine, bark brown in other layers. Its eyes were like a translucent orange candy.

Everyone let their guards down at that. Oh it's just an animal. It was quite a false alarm for the anxious bunch. Margherita, instead of freaking out like a regular person would, invited it to sit on her shoulders. It happily took the invitation and settled there. Margherita seemed to take a likening to the little ferret-cat. She began to slowly pet its head with her finger, erupting a soft purr from the creature.

_BAMMM__!- _The impact caused the ground to send crazed vibrations under the group's feet. Everyone fell on their butts, unable to handle this probable category 7 earthquake.

When everyone recovered, they saw a horrifying creature in front of them. It was colossal sized, causing everyone to feel it was the height of a skyscraper. Even Ludwig, who was an estimated 6 feet tall, had to lean his head all the way up to look into the monster's glaringly red eyes. The monster was made of the rock the group stood and fell on.

Ludwig said, "So this is the thing that made that roar earlier. No wonder all the animals ran away."

Monika replied, "Well, whatever the hell this thing is, it definitely doesn't like us!"

The monster roared again right at everyone. The hurricane winds that came from its mouth nearly blew everyone away. No one could decide whether to hold onto something or spare their ears from the deafening screech that came with the wind.

After the monster's breath was gone, everyone was a little flustered.

"Ludwig, do you think we should fight this thing?!" Kiku yelled, holding onto the handle of the sword on his hip.

"Of course, but-!" Ludwig said.

"Our weapons definitely wouldn't work on this thing!" Monika finished.

The Germans took out their weapons- fists and gun. The Japanese took out theirs as well- katana and knife.

All four of them looked over at the Italians. Judging by how the two were panicking, the four concluded that the two Italians did not have weapons.

The four looked at their own weaponry again and looked at the monster, back at their weapons, back at the monster. They looked up at each other one last time. Monika was right. All four said, "That's not going to work on that thing!", and threw their weapons to the ground.

"Well, how are we supposed to stop it then?!" Feliciano and Margherita shrieked, holding each other in agony.

"Well, Rock type monsters are weak against water!" A cute, little girl-like voice said out of the blue

Feliciano said, "Yeah, let's go find some water- Wait, what?"

Everyone turned to see the owner of the voice was a cute little creature. It looked like a innocent little girl. What made it different from them was that she was at least as big as a hand. The creature had pale white skin with dark pink eyes and hair. Her hair was partly put up into a high side ponytail while the rest of it laid just below her chin. She wore a white and pink outfit with large bead earrings and bracelets. She also had butterfly wings that also went her pink color scheme. She was utterly adorable or, as the Japanese say, "kawaii".

She giggled in a high-pitched child-like voice. "Hi there!" The little creature said.

Everyone screamed at the top of their lungs. _OH __NOT __AGAIN__!_

The monster roared again. However, the little girl shut it up by throwing a twig at it. "Oh, be quiet for a second, meanie!" She said, pouting a little.

The little girl took out a white stick from her pocket and waved it around her, pink ribbons coming around it. She then span it more and more until the ribbons surrounded everyone. Everyone closed their eyes, preparing for the worst. What were these ribbons going to do to them?

* * *

><p>When they opened their eyes again, the world surrounded them was out of its natural color. The sky was pink, the grass pink, the trees pink. Pink, pink, pink. Everything was pink. A two-year-old girl with a princess complex would be in heaven if she saw this. After a little more looking around, the little girl from earlier flew down to face in front of them.<p>

"Don't worry about that mean old monster for now. We need to talk a little" The creature said. She pointed over to the stone monster from a moment ago. It was no longer moving. It didn't even breath. It was like time stopped on it and the world surrounding it.  
>Everyone was pretty surprised by what happened to the world. Why was it pink? Why is nothing moving? The human curiosity in all of them made them want to found out more. They decided to just simply ignore the creature in front of them and look around.<p>

"Umm... hey, listen! Hey, listen!" Everyone turned back to the creature before them. "First off, my name is Bell! I'm a forest fairy! I was assigned to guide you through the game world!"

"Game world?"

"_Yes_!" Bell took out her stick again and spun it around a little. The ribbons from her wand flew up into the air and burst into confetti and colorful string. A weird congratulations noise was heard. "Welcome to the world of Fantasia!" Bell shouted.

"_Ooooh__, __ahhhhhhhhh_." Feliciano and Margherita said, watching the little magic trick Bell performed.

"Fan... ta... sia...?" Ludwig asked, confused by what the fairy said.

"Yep, silly goose! The world you landed in is the vast world of_Fantasia_!"

"Am I the only one who's spooked by this?" Monika asked.

"Oh don't be afraid! Fantasia is a _beautiful_ place! And I'm here to help out, _so_, everything is just all that better!"

Kiku asked, "Well, what is this world of 'Fantasia' anyway... um..."

"It's Bell, Mr. Japan!"

All of the men's eyes grew wide. "H-how do you-"

"Know? Well, my master told me _everything_ about you guys!"

"Your _master_?" Ludwig and Monika asked in unison.

"Yep! You'll learn about him soon enough! But for now, I think everyone should reintroduce themselves and say a little bit about themselves. We _are_in on _quite_ the journey soon!"

"_We_?" Ludwig asked.

"Yes!"

"For what?"

"Easy, silly! To get out of the game!"

Everyone was shell-shocked. "What?"

"In order to get out of the game and go back to the real world, you must beat the game. In order to beat the game, you have to do a ton of quests, item searching, levelling up, monster fighting, stuff like that! It'll take a _long_ time! But with a group like this, I think you guys will do _just__fine_!"

"And what about dying?" Kiku asked.

It was a good question to ask. Sure, in video games, one's character can die. However, one can simply just restart the game and the character is alive again, ready to rumble.

This isn't the case in the situation.

In this situation, the people who would be initially controlling the characters are now the characters themselves! There will be no one to reset the game for them. What happens in the event someone falls in battle?

"Dying?... What do you mean?"

"I mean, what happens if we die in battle? Would we really die?"

"Hmmm... Well... I am_pretty_ sure that you guys won't _die_ die. I mean, this_is_ a computer game. I will have to check through with some of the others too. So for now, I can say that you guys are in a game. You can lose all of your health points and stuff, but you won't _die_ die."

Kiku nodded. "Thank you"

"Anyway, I need someone to take my bell!"

"...Bell?"

Bell took out a bell from her tiny pocket and it grew to be bigger than her little hands. Before she could tumble over and drop it, Kiku grabbed it. Wondering who to give it to, Margherita was given the bell.

"Huh? Why are you giving that to me?"

"I don't know." Kiku said, looking away from Margherita, "Just take it."

"Oh... Well, I'll make sure to protect it with my life!"

"Just ring that bell and I'll be here. I'll also drop by to give world news and updates and such."

"Anyway, like I said a second ago, everyone should reintroduce themselves and whatever problems you need to discuss, I recommend you let them out now!"

Everyone followed what the little fairy said and they said their introductions.

"I'm Feliciano Vargas!"

"I'm Margherita Vargas!"

"I am Ludwig Beilschmidt."

"I am Monika Beilschmidt."

"I am Kiku Honda."

"I am Sakura Honda."

"Okay! Now that you guys know each other's names, let's get some business down! Boys, I think you should tell the girls that 'information' you have been withholding! It could cause a lot of problems down the road."

The girls were confused and the men flinched a little.

Ludwig said, "Well that's none of their business"

"None of our business?!" Monica snapped.

"Your lives could be danger if you knew!"

"Our lives... in danger... What the hell are you hiding?"

Bell looked a little worried as the atmosphere became tense. She shook her head and finally used her "outdoor voice" to answer.

"WOULD EVERYONE SHUT IT FOR FIVE SECONDS?!"

Everyone was dead silent. To hear such a loud voice from such a tiny fairy was a bit of a surprise. Bell breathed heavily as she tried to regain her breath.

"Fine. I guess we should just say it" Ludwig said, his eyes looking serious.

Kiku looked away to, his eyes showing his seriousness, "I think they should know if the fairy knows"

"I agree! I think it'll cause a ton of problems if we don't tell them!" Feliciano closed his eyes worriedly, waiting for Ludwig to answer.

"... Ladies, have you ever heard about nations being personified?" He asked, linking his hands together as if he was starting a business deal.

"I believe we have... Didn't we learn about that back in the academy?" Sakura asked.

Monika answered, "We did. My old high school's famous legend was the legend of the Spirits of the Nations. I remember it was engraved on a plague of Altas.. Right? The plague was under the statue of Atlas in the school entrance.

Margherita said, "Yep! I remember that we had to paint the statue in art class!"

"Okay. I don't remember it exactly because it was a poem. So I'll just give you the gist of it."

Monika inhaled and exhaled deeply.

"When a group of people accepted they had a common heritage, a nation was born. When a nation was born, a child was born with the same name as it. That child was the personification of that nation. As the country grew more powerful and bigger, the child grew up and became stronger as well. The child lived as long as the nation did. Even if the child itself died in battle, he or she would be revived... and..."

The women slowly looked up at the men they were with, beginning to realize what Monika was saying.

Ludwig said quietly and seriously, "Ja... We are... Nations"

He didn't even have to confirm his identity. The women already knew what he- no, all of the men- were: Nations. It was a moment that all have to go through- the realization of the truth behind something from one's childhood. It was like when one of that "Ring Around the Rosy" was actually a dark depiction of the way a person with the Plague died. Or when one discovered that Santa Claus was actually a saint, not a jolly old man who delivered presents. These truths hit people hard. And this truth- that these personified nations were actually real beings hit the three women hard.

Monika breathed in and talked again, "Okay so you're... 'Nations', correct? Then what nations are you?"

Ludwig answered, "I am Germany"

Kiku said, "I am Japan"

And Feliciano shouted cheerily, "And I am the northern part of Italy!"

And silence came again. The women were trying to figure out what to do now that they know this information. The men just sat there, patiently waiting. Not many humans knew about their existence so the three men can understand it'll take awhile for the girls to adjust.

The girls said blankly, "Okay" The men were stupefied by this quick response. Were these women really just "okay" with what just they just heard? That the men were actually the personifications of three of the most well known countries in the world?

"Okay? Just okay?" Ludwig asked. He didn't believe that was true.

"Ja. Why should we judge you because you are Nations? You guys look pretty normal to me. And I have a feeling we'll be needed the fighting power of three nations to get out of here" Monika said, slightly smirking.

Margherita joined in saying, "Yeah! You guys are _pretty_ cool. And Feliciano is such a good friend. I don't want to be enemies with any of you guys!"

Sakura continued, "I agree. I have to admit, it's kinda funny that the way you guys act are so stereotypical" She chuckled lightly, covering her giggle with her hand.

Bell smiled and said, "Yay! Now that you guys said that, we have more things to discuss!"

Everyone looked at the fairy again.

She continued, "So, from what my sensors are telling me, you guys are pretty alike. Like _twins_, right?"

They all looked at each other, trying to figure what Bell was implying.

"Indeed" Kiku said. "In fact, I am pretty sure we all thought that Sakura, Monika, and Margherita were Nations as well."

"Well, there is a reason for that! You see, Nations, these girls are your Equivalents!"

Everyone was baffled at that. Even the Nations, who were probably hundreds- no, thousands- of years old, were confused by this. What the eff is an "equivalent"?

"Equivalents? What's that?" Feliciano asked, tilting his head to the side innocently.

"This is going to be a long and boring explanation! So be prepared!" Bell said.

Everyone said their okays, giving Bell the signal to start. She took out her trusty wand and twirled it next to her, her pink ribbons coming out of it. They went to the side of her to create something that looked like a screen. On the screen appeared several pictures. Mell tapped her wand on one of them to reveal a diagram of a strong man and a female.

"To keep this whole scientific explanation short, Equivalents are the human counterparts of the Nations. They are usually the opposite gender of the Nation they are similar to and they share their appearances, personalities, likes and dislikes, you name it! You guys even have the same birthdays! It's pretty cool if you ask me. Equivalents are meant to be kinda like a secretary, assistant, friend, any role for the Nations. I think all three of you men know how rough it is to be a Nation. And when the going gets rough, you just need someone to talk to, right?"

The men nodded at that.

Bell tapped her wand onto a picture of ancient ruins and an ancient stone carving. The stone carving had a picture of a mighty warrior shining in the sun with an engraving of something in Latin. Feliciano's eyes grew wide as he realized who the warrior was.

"Grandpa Rome?!" He said cheerfully.

"Yep, that's your Grandfather, Mr. Italy!" Bell said, pointing at the stone carving, "You see, the system of Equivalents started during the times of Ancient Rome. The king at the time noticed how your grandfather reacted to war, economical gain and downfall, etc. So that emperor decided to get your grandfather a human female to be his _aequalis_, the ancient term for an Equivalent, to be his servant. But then the emperor realized that this _aequalis_ was also human. And the human would most likely die before your grandfather did. So the emperor called upon the power of the oracles of his country. And they gave the _aequalis_ the power of immortality."

Bell pushed her wand onto the picture and slicked it away to show a marble statue of Ancient Rome and a woman next to him. The two looked like they were hunting as they both were armed with ancient weaponry and armor.

"The woman next to Ancient Rome is his Equivalent. Margherita, this is your grandmother when she was a teenager"

Margherita looked questionably shocked. She slowly walked over to the screen, in awe of what she is seeing. It was as if she discovered something out of this world and amazing. She touched the screen softly, blushing a little as she tried to feel the warmth that seemed to be emitted from the statue of her grandmother. She ran her finger slightly along the hair of her grandmother's statue, all the way up to her face.

Bell smiled at this. Who wouldn't? Margherita looked so innocent, like a child in a candy store, gazing at all the different kinds of sugary sweets. It was like the swirls of her grandmother's long hair were like swirls of lollipops, the hard armor like hard candy, the soft breeze that blew her grandmother's hair and clothing like soft taffy.

And then Margherita slowly faded out of the candy store and into the scene of the statue. She could softly hear the crunching of twigs, the whistling of the wind, the overpowering laughter of Feliciano's grandfather, and then... her grandmother's voice. She saw her grandmother and Feli's grandfather were scrolling through a forest, talking and laughing with one another. She couldn't understand what they were saying, what they were laughing about.

But all she could think was... Was this what my grandmother looked like back then? Margherita has only seen her grandmother as a old woman, hair white and eyes covered with tiny glasses. Now she could put a face on her when she was young. But all she could see was her grandmother's white hair and anemic eyes. Was her hair an auburn brown like Margherita's? Or a dark brown? Maybe a light brown? Or was it not brown at all? So many questions erupted. And they could never be answered.

"Nonna (grandmother)... You weren't kidding when you said that I would only be able to find a picture of you when you were younger in a museum" She whispered softly.

"Unfortunately, time passed and all records of the ancient magic used to make your grandmother immortal was lost in time and her passing" Bell said solemnly.

At the word passing, Margherita looked downcast and slowly walked away from the screen, leaving that scene of her grandmother and Feli's grandfather to be set in stone once again.

"Other ancient empires tried to make use of this system but it is unknown whether the results were successful or not. There were no Equivalents for the next 2000 years. That is, until historians found all that wonderful stuff I just showed you!"

Bell then continued onto to her explanation. She moved the picture she had up before to a far part of the screen. She then grabbed a picture of a Gothic-style building and displayed it for all to see. The architecture resembled a certain magical academy from the J.K. Rowling book series, Harry Potter. However, there were certainly no students flying on broomsticks or teachers making potions. The women were surprised when they saw the building while the men were curious as to why the fairy was showing them a picture of a building.

"In the year 1976, the statues and stone carvings I showed you were found. And all the governments of the world that knew of this discovery realized what their Nations were missing- friends. So many countries under NATO, the Soviet Union, etc., came together to help their Nations advance by creating the Equal Project. The Equal Project is a project where 1 boy or girl born in 1987 would be chosen to be the Equivalent of a nation. Then the governments would then sent the students to-"

"The International Academy of Overachievers..." Monika said.

"Yeah! You're right!"

"But... why...?" Sakura asked.

"To answer your question, the school was disguised as the training facility for Equivalents. The idea was to make the facility look like a high-class prep school. This was so families wouldn't hesitate to send their children to the school. I mean, c'mon, high class prep school with _no_ tuition is pretty cool to any parent."

The initial shock of this new fact made the girls feel so lost. The three of them met at the school. Those times of homework, boredom, odd happenings, Margherita's stupidity, and out of everything, those times of sitting out in the grass, eating their lunch, giggling and laughing about how the gym teacher's face looked when he was angry. Those times of just blissful ignorance that every person has but can only truly acknowledge when they were gone- they were all destroyed in that moment. The school was the top of the iceberg. But what the school truly was- a "training facility" for God's sake- was what was hidden from them. It was like that hidden resentment that all people usually have for one another at some point in their lives- it seems so little on the outside but it was gargantuan on the inside.

They felt odd. What are they? Are they human? Are they slaves? Just what are they? For most of the lives they can remember, they were at school. The three met at the school. The three did everything at that school. But now that school from their memories was just a training base for them. The magic of that school was gone.

"Now that you mention it... It was a little odd that there were so few students in such a large campus..." Sakura said, voice lined with shock and realization.

"And that the only tournaments we had were intramurals..." Monika continued.

"And that the school had disgusting pasta." Margherita finished, laced with slight irritation.

The three girls finally said in unison, "That makes absolute sense now!"

Monika's eyes widened a little as if a thought appeared in her head. She suddenly asked, "Wait, so does this mean that our families knew?"

"I don't know. I am not authorized to know that information. Most just got a letter from the school, saying the student got a scholarship from the school. And all families obliged and sent you guys to the school."

"Oh..."

"Okay, now that boring stuff is done, let's get on the world surrounding you!"

Bell moved the picture away and changed it to something else. This time, it seemed to be a picture that would be on the cover of a video game and a map of five masses of land.

"This game and the world is called Fantasia. Fantasia is a massive multiplayer online role playing game, or MMORPG for short, created by Corelnation. The game hasn't been released yet or for beta, so you'll be the first to try it out!"

Bell tapped her wand as she called out the name of each country "There are five major lands in the game- Belldandy, Skuld, Urd, Hild, and the Celestine Islands. You are currently in the country of Belldandy, where adventurers first start their journey"

"Now why are we here?" Everyone besides Bell asked.

Bell looked a little taken back. She thought hard for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer that.

"I... I don't know" Bell said, looking away sadly.

"Wha- What do you mean you don't know?!" Monika and Ludwig asked, anger rising in their voices.

Bell began to panic. "I- I just don't. My programming doesn't have any proper response to answer that. And I wasn't informed either by anyone... I don't know why you all are here"

"Oh..."

"... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay" Feliciano said.

Bell let out a slight sob and covered her face. Oh great, Ludwig and Monika made Bell cry.

Margherita walked over to Bell and presented her hand, palm up, to the little fairy. Bell, hesitant at first, stepped onto her palm. Margherita then rose her hand up so her eyes were lined up with Bell's.

Margherita said, soothing tone in voice, "It's okay, Bell-a. Monika and Ludwig didn't mean to be so harsh. You're a good Bell-a!"

Bell stopped crying for a moment. "Bell-a?"

"Oh, sorry, my accent is getting to me!"

"Does 'Bell-a' have a meaning in your native language by any chance?"

"Italian? Yep-aroni! It means 'beautiful'!"

"Beautiful..." Bell mumbled. Bell smiled at the word.

Bell wiped her face and flew off of Margherita's hand. Margherita smiled at the little fairy.

"A- Anyway, where was I?"

"We were talking about why we were here in the game-" Kiku and Sakura said in unison until they flinched when they noticed what they just did.

"Oh right... Let's see..." Bell began to mumble some words under her breath.

"Okay! Now let's just get into the game interface! You guys don't really have to know most of this, but my programming requires me to say it. So, Mr. Japan, since you like video games, I think you should listen up"

"Okay, I will." Kiku said.

Sakura joined in, "I will also, since I play RPG's often"

"Oh, really? May we exchange game accounts when we get out of this game? I would like to battle you sometime"

"Of course, Kiku" Sakura said, ending with a smile across her face. Kiku also smiled.

"Okay, so let's start with Health points..." Bell said.

And then everyone else lost Bell and the Japanese duo after that. What were they even talking about? It made no sense to any of the four non-listeners. What was this about Health points? Magic points? Magic?! Weapons?! What the hell is this?

"Now let's talk about classes. I'll give a short run through. Mr. Italy and Ms. Margherita are Adventurers"

Feliciano and Margherita listened up at that. What's an adventurer? It sounded cool and scary at the same time for the two of them. Adventures are fun but it can get very scary very quick! And neither of them didn't like scary things. Just thinking about it, Feliciano covered his eyes with his hands, about to cry.

That's when Feliciano noticed something odd. His hands- they felt leathery. Feliciano slowly peeled his hands off his face to see that his hands were covered with brown leather gloves. Where did these gloves come from?

And then he noticed his sleeves. And his clothes. Where did his clothes go? What happened to the white blouse, jeans, and dress shoes he was wearing earlier? He was wearing something completely different now. Khaki shirt... Dark green coat... Lime green pants... brown boots... white backpack... And oh wait, was that a brown strap across his chest?

That's when Feliciano discovered his weapon, or should we say "toy"- a sword. It looked like a Medieval-era sword- silver blade with a bronze cross handle. He really didn't care for the sentimental value of the sword. He thought it would make him look cool, like a knight or something. And knights are chick magnets. And he likes chicks. Makes perfect sense, right?

"OH! Lookie, lookie! Germany - I have a sword!" Feliciano said.

He pulled the sword out but, because it was too heavy for him, it fell straight to the ground. Everyone began to sweat a little and Ludwig became irritated by it.

"Italy! Watch it when you handle weapons! I don't want to get into how many times you have blown yourself up when handling grenades!"

"Oh, fine!" Feliciano said, huffing and pouting shortly afterward.

Margherita looked at Feliciano as he looked at his new threads. And then she thought, hey, if Feli has new clothes, then maybe I do!

And she was right. Her corny work uniform was gone. She wore a get up a bit similar to Feliciano's- except it wasn't similar. It had the same basic design- baggy shirt, long jacket and boots. But Margherita's was a different color- a rosy pink jacket, khaki shirt and baggy... Margherita wiggled her feet around to feel what she was looking for. She felt a tightness. Yep, baggy tights are what she was wearing- and brown boots. But Margherita also had a black miniskirt, pink shoulder bag, and no strap on her shoulder.

But then she noticed the caramel belt wrapped around her waist. She looked more and found a handle to something propped behind her back. She quickly pulled the handle out from behind her to reveal a dagger from behind her. Her eyes bugged wide. It was beautiful in her eyes. And also pretty cool and fancy.

"Ooooh, Feli! I also got a fancy weapon!" Margherita shouted to her friend, eyes locked onto her new weapon.

Monika looked like she was internally panicking, seeing the Italian look at the dagger. Oh she's not gonna, is she?

Margherita began to slowly bring the blade to her eye as she tried to look at it in all views. Oh yes she did.

Monika quickly snatched the knife before Margherita .

"Hey! What was that for?!"

"I don't want you poking your eye out!"

Margherita huffed as she listened in on what Bell was babbling about.

"-Now let's move on to the others. As I mentioned about the game errors earlier, Mr. Japan, one of them was this. Some of you guys ended up being in advanced classes but at level 5. Not very good. Anyway, Mr. Germany is a Blacksmith while Monika is a Tank. Blacksmiths have high offense while Tanks have high defense."

That's when Ludwig realized, hey, maybe I should check out my clothes. He was wearing a white dress shirt that was covered by black arm-warmers and a beige breastplate. He looked along his arm to see that he was wearing brown gloves from under his arm-warmers. He looked down into his lap to see he was wearing a grey leather apron of sorts that covered light beige pants. He looked to his feet and noticed the shiny new dark brown leather boots.

He leaned back a little and felt something under his fingers. He looked behind and his eyes opened in shock as he found a gigantic axe behind him. He lifted it up with his strong hands to get a good look at it. It was very well crafted, made from iron or some other metal.

"What in the name of wurst is this..."  
>He got up and made some test swings with it. After a little while, he stopped. He raised an eyebrow and nodded, seeming to like the new weapon he got.<p>

After Monika saw Ludwig and his new clothes, she decided to look at hers. She now wore a white, long sleeved midriff with a dark brown breastplate, gloves, and pants. Over all of this was a beige jacket that fell all the way down to her upper ankles. And then she found the black utility belt on her waist.

It felt like it was heavy since it seemed to weigh her hips down. She began to look through the many compartments of the belt, trying to find what was so heavy. She opened the first pocket and dipped her finger in what looked like black powder. She brought it up to her finger and sniffed it. _Gunpowder__? _Why was there gunpowder in her pocket?

Monika opened another compartment. It was filled to the brim with more gunpowder. Opened another- filled with dynamite. Opened another- filled with grenades.

"Wah- What the hell is all of this?" Monika asked, dumbfounded by what she founded..

Bell replied, "Well for now, you use explosives as a weapon! Cool, right? That is what makes the game unique!"

"EXPLOSIVES?! WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY CATCH ON FIRE OR SOMETHING?!"

Bell shrugged her shoulders, "Umm... That's kinda your problem..."

Monika looked like she wanted to choke the little fairy but she held herself back from assaulting the tiny thing. Why waste your breath on a fictional character? She ended up just sighing the anger away.

Monika then noticed that her hearing was funny. It sounded a bit muffled. So she touched her ears and she was surprised to feel something hard

"Also, what are these headphones for?" Monika asked, pointing at the white headphones on her ears.

"Oh, that's so you don't go deaf when you throw explosives!"

"WHAT THE- ARE YOU PEOPLE NUTS?!"

Bell could only giggle at the German's distress. Monika truly wanted to wrap her hands around that fairy right now!

"Oh, don't worry! I was just playing around. You can't actually go deaf from throwing explosives! Also, for a random fact, you can't hurt any of your party members if you accidentally throw a bomb at one of them."

"Really?" Monika asked. Bell nodded.

Monika really seemed to like the idea. Because she turned and gave evil eyes to Margherita. Monika had a sinister idea.

"_Margherita_, let's test those legs of yours!" Monika said, sinister like a witch.

Monika pulled out a grenade from her new belt. She pulled the safety pin out with her teeth and threw it at the Italian.

Margherita's face turned pale as she slowly watched the grenade go up in the air. And as it started to come over to her, that's when she decided to run. Margherita scrambled to get up. Somehow, she got her legs functioning and started running just before the grenade landed in the spot she just was.

Monika liked this new game. So Monika started throwing more at Margherita and Margherita continued to dodge to run away.

"MONIKAAAAAAA! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! STOP THROWING GRENADES AT A-ME!" Margherita screamed at the top of her lungs.

"THIS IS FOR ALL THE HELL YOU PUT THROUGH IN THE ACADEMY, YOU DUMME SCHLAMPE(stupid bitch)!" Monika yelled.

Everyone just watched in either horror or amazement as the two interacted with each other. At one point, Kiku whispered into Ludwig's ear.

"Germany, are all Germans like that?" He asked.

"Of course not! She's just nuts!"

"Hell yeah I am!" Monika yelled, overhearing their conversation.

As Monika was "testing" her new explosives, the Japanese duo began to look at their new threads.

Kiku wore a traditional blue buddhist monk outfit with a green sash that crossed his chest. He looked down at his feet and he was wearing traditional sandals. He gave up staring at his feet and looked at his hands, that have gauntlets on them. He touched his collarbone and noticed a white beaded necklace was there. He felt more and noticed a red ribbon. He looked where the ribbon ended and noticed a _sugegasa _was attached to it.

He looked to his left and noticed a staff was next to him. He picked it up and twirled it around, making the rings attached to the centerpiece of it twirl with the movement.

He looked to his right and noticed a sheathed sword was attached to his hip. He smiled slightly, seeming to get happy from the sight. He took the sword out, taking in the handiwork of it.

"My katana... How is this possible?" He asked himself.

"My master thought it would be nice if you kept your sword. I hear it's very precious to you so..."

"It is. I'm grateful that your 'master' let me keep it."

As they were talking and Monika was throwing dynamite at Margherita, Sakura took in her new looks as well. She wore a pair of red _hakama_ that tied with a bow and covered a white _haori_. The cherry blossom flower barrette she had in her hair was replaced by a big, gold bell that had white beads and red ribbons coming out of it. With the catalpa bow and container of arrows on her back, she looked like a miko.

"Wait. Where is my-" Sakura said, showing a little bit of panic.

She touched her chest, trying to feel for something. She then touched something and removed it from the folds of her kimono. It was the knife from earlier.

She sighed in relief. "Thank goodness! I thought I lost it."

"Okay, so while Monika is-", Bell tried to said in between the booms created by Monika's weapon testing and Margherita's screams, "BLOWING UP STUFF- I guess I should continue with what I was saying. Sakura and Mr. Japan are priests! They are high in magic but physical attacks aren't very powerful!"

Kiku and Sakura looked a little sad at the news that their heirlooms will not be of any good use for now. Before Kiku could ask something, a very loud boom was heard. Sakura finally got enough nerve in her to shout at Monika to stop.

She yelled, "Monika! What the heck was that?!"

"Yes, I got her!" Monika said, before noticing what Sakura yelled, "Oh, sorry about that! M-80s are really loud! Also, I'm done with my target practice!"

Everyone looked at over where Monika threw her bomb. A swirl of smoke and dirt was surrounding the area until the wind blew away. On the sight of impact was Margherita, who looked exhausted from all the running. She laid on the ground unmoving. Feliciano ran over to her.

"Margie! Are you okay?!" He asked, adopting a new nickname for her.

"Yeah... Just a word of advice. Don't put pictures of Monika changing in the school locker room in a newspaper. That's why she choose me as her test dummy"

Monika cut in, "I have you know it was more than that, Margherita!"

Margherita shot a whatever at her German friend and slowly got up. The two Italians walked back to their comrades.

"Okay, now that you are done venting. Let's do a couple more things and I'll put you back in real time, 'kay?"

"Okay!" Everyone said.

"Yay! So, anyway, for now on you six are a party! If you don't know what that is, it's basically a group of travellers or adventurers. Unlike most games, you can give the party a name. So now, I would like you all to choose a name for it"

"Hmm... A team name, huh?" Monika said, rubbing her chin.

"Ooo, I know! Pasta Lovers!" Feliciano said, cheerily.

Ludwig instantly cut in, "No, you _Kackbratze__ (__shithead__)_!"

Feliciano stuck out his tongue at Ludwig and said, "Oh, c'mon,Germany!"

Margherita said, "How about this... 4 Europeans... 2 Japanese!" Margherita said it like it was the best idea in the world.

"NO!" The Germans and Japanese shouted, trying to hide that fact that that name sounds like a infamous pornographic film.

"I think we should use the Two Trios of Friendship, but that sounds like something from one of my cartoons" Kiku said.

Feliciano responded, "Wait! I got the perfect name! Let's be Pasta Porn!"

Everyone turned to Feliciano utterly dumbfounded.

"Yeah! It's simple really! Japan makes it, Germany reads it, and I eat the tasty results! Yahoo!"

Ludwig's face paled while Kiku's cheeks grew a bright red. All of the females were shocked at what Feliciano just said. Before Feliciano could say anything else, Ludwig began yelling at him. However, Feliciano ignored him and went over to Bell.

"Okay! So will 'Pasta Porn' be the name of the party?" Bell asked, innocently.

Feliciano nodded quickly.

Bell went mute for a moment, standing perfectly still. Small lights danced across her eyes as if they were computer lights. After a few seconds, the lights went away and she returned to herself. She started to do a little cheerleader style dance when the process was complete.

"Hooray! Your party name has been officially changed to 'Pasta Porn'" She announced, happily.

Everyone was utterly shocked. Did they just allow Feliciano to name their team to be "Pasta Porn"? Oh yes they did. And when they realized it, there were no words to describe their utter embarrassment. Sakura and Kiku both blushed feverishly. Monika's face turned as white as paper. Ludwig, though... Oh, Ludwig was pissed. Before Feliciano could say anything more, Ludwig proceeded to try to strangle him. Was it because Feliciano named their team the most embarrassing thing ever? Or was it because, when explanations came, Feliciano would repeat the "Germany would read the porn" part? Whatever the reason was, someone was about to get the shit choked out of him.

"Anyway, for now on, you will be seen as 'Pasta Porn' on the leaderboard. However, if you combine with another party, you'll be given another chance to change your party name, 'kay?"

Everyone besides Feliciano let out a well deserved sigh and Germany stopped trying to end Feliciano's life for the second time today. They all seemed to be relieved at the news that they all wouldn't be "Pasta Porn" permanently.

"Now that that is done! Let's get to beating up that big meanie pants from earlier!"

"What?" Ludwig asked.

They all turned and remembered the stone monster from earlier. It was unmoving and tainted pink like the rest of the world they were in. Despite the feminine color, the monster still looked frightening and strong.

"Unfortunately, there was a BIG game error when you entered the game and you all landed in the wrong area. You are to be in the first town, Felix. Instead, you landed in the Enchanted Forest. Also, the monster is a level 20 and you guys are only level 5's!"

Kiku and Sakura turned to each other. Calmly, they both said, "We are done for!"

"Well, fear not! I know a way you guys can beat it! One way is that you can somehow drag it to the river near here! If you successfully get it in the water, it will drown and disappear! Another is by using explosives..."

Monika looked into her utility belt and noticed that she only had 4 grenades and a stick of dynamite left from the bomb frenzy she had earlier.

Monika nervously responded, "Uh- Ya! Let's try drowning that thing!"

Everyone gave a dirty look at Monika. After that, they began to think up of ways to get the monster in the water. It wasn't long before the Germans and Japanese thought up a plan. Quickly, all six of them huddled together. After a minute or two of heated whispers, everyone dispersed. The Italians looked at each other and gulped.

Feliciano turned to Ludwig and said, "Are you sure this is-a best way to get the monster in the river?"

Ludwig, crossing his arms, unemotionally replied, "Ja."

Feliciano turned back to Margherita. They both started shivering.

"W-Well! I guess w-w-we should get ready?" Feliciano said, laughing nervously.

"Y-Yeah... We should"

The two turned around faced Bell.

"Okay! Is everyone ready?"

"Si!" The new party members said in their native tongues.

"Here we go!" Bell took out her wand again and began to spin it around again. Instead of making ribbons this time, the spell she cast dissolved the pink of the surroundings and changed everything back to its original color. The sky was blue again, the treetops were green, the tree bark was brown, the stone ground was grey again.

As the monster began to change back to its original color scheme, Ludwig, Monika, Kiku, and Sakura fled into the forest ahead. Feliciano and Margherita were left to shiver in their boots. Margherita grabbed her fellow Italian to whisper a few last thoughts with him

"Be brave, Feli! There's nothing to fear! This is just a game!"

"A... game?"

"Yeah! Like those fantasy games that the Japanese always make! If you die, you'll just come back to life! Since we are in one, that means that we won't die! So there's no reason to fear!"

"... Okay! Well, I a-guess I can't be scared if it's not that serious!"

Feliciano gulped. He opened his eyes to show a new flame of fury and bravery. Margherita smiled and supported the new Italian's attitude. However, Feli pulled out a white flag from his pocket and started to wave it around.

"I'll show you the true Italy! Italia forever!" He shouted as he waved the flag in a fury.

There were no words to describe Margherita's face right now. Was it full of surprise? Or was it full of anger? Out of all though, she was probably dumbfounded by how her friend was acting. Even she, the usually happy-go-lucky person of the group, hit her face with her palm when she saw how Feliciano was acting.

Before Margherita could make a comment, the monster in front of them roared furiously at them. Both covered their ears to protect them from the screeching noise that came with the roar. After it ended, Margherita looked pumped.

"Italy! I think it's working!" She said eagerly, "Here! I'll go next!"

She turned around and began to wag her rear end in front of the monster. The monster had a unreadable expression on its hideous face.

"Oooooveeerrrr hereeeee, Mr. Sticchiu (pussy)" She said playfully.

As if the rock monster could understand what she just called him, it made an angry screech at them. The creature began to walk near them and the two Italians started to run away into the forest. The two seemed to be experts at running away from battle because they were running so fast without tripping or being out of breath. They jumped over every rock and dodged every tree branch like a pro. However, this master display of athletics was ruined by Feliciano's panicking and screaming for help. The monster quickly approaching them destroyed all of the earlier obstacles behind them, making Margherita, who just happened to turn her head, very irritated.

Soon, the two saw a light at the end of the forest. Feliciano turned to Margherita. The two nodded and began to run as twice as fast. They did a baseball dive into the light. The monster still ran after them into the light. Suddenly, a rope went up just before it went into the sunlight. The monster stepped right on the rope. This caused the rope to not only break, but to drag over Ludwig, Monika, Kiku, and Sakura from their places onto the dirty ground below. The monster let out another roar, angered by their futile attempt to attack.

"Shit! I thought it was going to work!" Monika said.

The monster swung its arm at Monika and Kiku. It hit both of them and flung them into a tree nearby. Kiku couldn't move, while Monika was left to lay face-down in the dirt.

Ludwig and Sakura shouted the names of their fallen companions. The Italians were both equally frightened by what happened. Before anyone could try to help Monika or Kiku, the monster also threw a punch right at Ludwig. Ludwig was flung right behind the two Italians, barely able to move. Those who were left uninjured by the ferocious beast that was attacking them let out gasps. Sakura made an awkward run over to Monika and Kiku - she stumbled for most of the steps she made but she made it. She ran over and "covered" the two by standing in front of them defensively, knife in hand. Feliciano was left shivering in his boots, panicking and waving his trusty flag around.

Margherita was scared. Very scared. There were no words that could describe her fear. But her body definitely showed it. Her face was as white as a ghost. Her eyes were watering up for a downcast of tears to come. She was hyperventilating, taking in quick breaths of air. Her body couldn't stop shaking.

The monster slowly walked over to the frightened girl. He put its face right up close to hers. It opened its mouth to bare its stony fangs and threaded saliva at her. Her heart skipped a beat and she stopped breathing.

This "game" was too real.

"... Grandma..." She softly murmured.

Silence... All there was silence.

"The phoenix shines in you." A little girl's voice said.

"Wah-"

Suddenly, a sharp flash of heat hit Margherita's chest. The heat soon began painful and it began to burn her skin. She fumbled under her shirt to try to remove the source of the heat. With shaking hands, Margherita pulled out her grandmother's necklace and the pain slowly went away. She looked began to look at the necklace, trying to figure out why it was paining her chest. She stared deeply at the ruby. It looked pretty ordinary to her. But her eyes just wouldn't come off of it.

Slowly and slowly she became more entranced by the ruby's color.

And slowly and slowly she was becoming engulfed in the reds of the jewel.

"Why... Why do I feel like I'm..."Margherita's vision began to become blurry. "...drifting away..."

Those were the last words Margherita said before before she suddenly felt a heat spread through her body like fire. She let out a mighty scream and fell over to her side in pain. The Italian, as she was trying to ease her pain, was beginning to give off steam from her body.

The rock monster became irritated. In its rage, it threw down a punch, hoping to end the Italian's life. A hand quickly came up and grabbed the angry creature's stony hands. Margherita began to rise from the ground, still holding onto the monster's hand and staring deep into the angry creature's red eyes.  
>While Margherita was being assaulted, Feliciano was helping his German friend out. He quickly threw an arm under Ludwig's shoulder and lifted him up onto his feet.<p>

"Ah- Thank you, Italia."

"Any time, Germany! But we need to help Margherita!"

Ludwig and Feliciano looked up to see Margherita's current situation. They both were freaked out by what happened. From what Feliciano remembered, Margherita was in pure fear one second. The next, she seemed to be overpowering the monster that attacked them. But something was off... And Ludwig noticed it.

"... Something's wrong..."

"Huh? What do you mean, Germa-?"

"Something's... very wrong..."

Feliciano looked into the Italian's face, trying to find the Margherita he instantaneously befriended. He looked beyond her wavy fringe to find her bright amber eyes but found something else... Her eyes weren't their lovely light brown anymore. They were orange- an outrageously bright orange. Her pupils had drowned into the same color as her irises. The life that shined as tiny sparkles on her eyes were gone. The cutely clumsy, energetic, cheerful Margherita was replaced with a soulless empty shell.

"...Ma... Margherita?..."

Feliciano let go of Ludwig. It was sudden but Ludwig was able to keep his balance and stand tall. The short boy just stood there and watched her.

Feliciano titled his head slightly, as if he was innocently confused by something. "Where... Where are you, Margherita?"

A spark flew off her body. Then another. And another.

A burst of fire came out of Margherita. Ludwig frantically grabbed Feliciano and jumped away from the burst. A ring of fire flew right over the Northern Italian's hair curl, an inch away from setting the hair on fire. The two landed on the ground, Ludwig covering and holding his friend from the danger ahead.

They waited a moment, being too hesitant to move. They didn't want to see what was happening. They really didn't. But, like many times before, they had to. It was like deja vu all over again.

Ludwig was the first to look up. There was pure silence. Something that shouldn't be there in that situation.

Feliciano was a bit confused by this. What happened to the sound? This is unnatural.

Feliciano looked out of the corner of his eye to see Ludwig was now standing tall, eyes wide, mouth agape. Feliciano slightly tilted his head to the side, confused by this. It was rare for Feliciano to see his German friend surprised by anything. And Feliciano was curious about what he was so shocked about.

So he looked over and saw what Ludwig was looking at...

And he hasn't been so shocked and scared in such a long time...


End file.
